The distinctiveness of this pie is its crust: made from fairly finely crushed saltine crackers (best with  the original Keebler Saltines)  and moistened with melted butter until it holds together so you can pat it into a pie plate. Chill it a bit and then bake for about 15 minutes until it’s lightly brown.

When I first posted this pie on Facebook I had lots of comments, one in particular that said “How low can you go.”  At first I wasn’t not sure what that meant.  But then I took it to mean that it was a fulsome stab at cooking economically, resorting to cracker crumbs for a crust.  But this crust makes the pie as does its simple  filling that take minutes to make.  The result is a pie with a flavor  profile of sweet, salt and sour. I loved this pic so much that I made it a second time a few days later.  It was in that second version  where I made changes.  The first time the crust fell apart because I hadn’t crushed the crackers fine enough and I added more melted butter so the crumbs would hold up better.  I’ve actually seen some versions where the cracker crust is rolled out like a standard pie dough.

Here the pie is covered with lightly whipped cream; some versions use meringue

The recipe can be credited to the legion of -grandmothers in the south whose recipes  have been passed down over the years.  Chef Bill Smith, of Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina is such a recipient and he also had many version of it  as a child when he visited the coastal restaurants in the Carolinas, where this pie was a summer feature and thus its name Atlantic Beach Pie.  He includes it  on his Crook’s Corner menu. The version that I offer uses Neal’s crust but I also got tips from the New York Times article on Atlantic Beach Pie and from cookbook author  Virginia Willis  whose filling was delicious, basically a glorified ice box pie as shown  in her book “Secrets of the Southern Table”

The first time I had some trouble with the crust falling apart. I did because I didn’t crush the crackers fine enough.  On the second try I put them in the food processor until finely crushed.  But you have to be careful of overdoing it.  I also increased the amount of melted butter that’s used to bind the crust.  Though Willis’s version called for putting the crust in a tart pan with removable bottom, I found this too cumbersome and had much better results using an ordinary pie plate.

The pie cuts very easily after an hour of chilling. If there are leftovers (not likely) cover the pie loosely and refrigerate

In his book where he offers a recipe for the pie he credits his grandmother for her version of the pie.  In fact, he also suggests that you can use Ritz crackers instead of Saltines.