diff --git a/tests/conftest.py b/tests/conftest.py
index 68ff26e..625337e 100644
--- a/tests/conftest.py
+++ b/tests/conftest.py
@@ -164,8 +164,8 @@ def wheelhouse(tmp_path_factory, pip_cache):
     """A PEP 517 wheelhouse containing the local copy of rapids-build-backend."""
     wheelhouse = tmp_path_factory.mktemp("wheelhouse")
 
-    # Build the rapids-builder wheel in a temporary directory where we can bump the
-    # version to ensure that it is preferred to any other available wheels.
+    # Build the rapids-build-backend wheel in a temporary directory where we can bump
+    # the version to ensure that it is preferred to any other available wheels.
     rapids_build_backend_build_dir = tmp_path_factory.mktemp(
         "rapids_build_backend_build_dir"
     )
@@ -203,6 +203,22 @@ def wheelhouse(tmp_path_factory, pip_cache):
         check=True,
     )
 
+    subprocess.run(
+        [
+            sys.executable,
+            "-m",
+            "pip",
+            "wheel",
+            "--disable-pip-version-check",
+            "--wheel-dir",
+            str(wheelhouse),
+            "--cache-dir",
+            pip_cache,
+            f"{DIR}/tests/rapids-test-dummy",
+        ],
+        check=True,
+    )
+
     return wheelhouse
 
 
diff --git a/tests/rapids-test-dummy/pyproject.toml b/tests/rapids-test-dummy/pyproject.toml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1277378
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/rapids-test-dummy/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+
+[project]
+name = "rapids-test-dummy"
+version = "0.0.1"
diff --git a/tests/rapids-test-dummy/rapids_test_dummy/__init__.py b/tests/rapids-test-dummy/rapids_test_dummy/__init__.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..45c5b49
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/rapids-test-dummy/rapids_test_dummy/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+# Copyright (c) 2024, NVIDIA CORPORATION.
+
+__version__ = "0.0.1"
diff --git a/tests/templates/dependencies-rbb-only.yaml b/tests/templates/dependencies-rbb-only.yaml
index 68366f6..54b4fc0 100644
--- a/tests/templates/dependencies-rbb-only.yaml
+++ b/tests/templates/dependencies-rbb-only.yaml
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ dependencies:
         matrices:
           - matrix: {cuda: "85.*"}
             packages:
-              - more-itertools
+              - rapids-test-dummy
           # keeping this empty means it'll only be filled in if
           # rapids-build-backend actually resolves one of the CUDA-specific
           # matrices
diff --git a/tests/test_packages.py b/tests/test_packages.py
index 15aaa1c..c43b9a5 100644
--- a/tests/test_packages.py
+++ b/tests/test_packages.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 
 import glob
 import os
+import re
 import subprocess
 import zipfile
 from email.parser import BytesParser
@@ -29,6 +30,10 @@ def _generate_wheel(env, package_dir):
                 break
             if "Collecting" in line:
                 build_requires.add(line.replace("Collecting ", "").replace(" ", ""))
+            elif re.search(
+                r"Processing .*/rapids_test_dummy-0\.0\.1-py3-none-any\.whl$", line
+            ):
+                build_requires.add("rapids-test-dummy")
 
     # Extract metadata from the wheel file.
     wheel = glob.glob(str(package_dir / "*.whl"))[0]
@@ -101,9 +106,9 @@ def test_setuptools_with_imports_in_setup_py_works(
             "dependencies-file": '"dependencies-rbb-only.yaml"',
         },
         "setup_py_lines": [
-            "import more_itertools",
+            "import rapids_test_dummy",
             "",
-            "print(more_itertools.__version__)",
+            "print(rapids_test_dummy.__version__)",
             "",
             "setup()",
         ],
@@ -118,7 +123,7 @@ def test_setuptools_with_imports_in_setup_py_works(
         )
 
     assert name == "setuptools-with-imports-in-setup-py-cu85"
-    assert {"more-itertools"}.issubset(build_requires)
+    assert {"rapids-test-dummy"}.issubset(build_requires)
     assert requirements == set()
 
 
@@ -137,9 +142,9 @@ def test_setuptools_with_imports_in_setup_py_fails_on_missing_imports(
             "dependencies-file": '"dependencies-rbb-only.yaml"',
         },
         "setup_py_lines": [
-            "import more_itertools",
+            "import rapids_test_dummy",
             "",
-            "print(more_itertools.__version__)",
+            "print(rapids_test_dummy.__version__)",
             "",
             "setup()",
         ],
@@ -149,20 +154,21 @@ def test_setuptools_with_imports_in_setup_py_fails_on_missing_imports(
     generate_from_template(package_dir, "setup.py", template_args)
 
     # only the CUDA '85.*' in this example provides required build dependency
-    # 'more-itertools', so it won't be found if using some other matrix.
+    # 'rapids-test-dummy', so it won't be found if using some other matrix.
     #
     # This test confirms that rapids-build-backend fails loudly in that case, instead of
     # silently ignoring it.
     #
     # It'd also catch the case where other tests accidentally pass because
-    # 'more-itertools' already existed in the environment where tests run.
+    # 'rapids-test-dummy' already existed in the environment where tests run.
     with patch_nvcc_if_needed(nvcc_version="25"):
         with pytest.raises(subprocess.CalledProcessError, match=".*pip.*"):
             _generate_wheel(env=isolated_env, package_dir=package_dir)
 
     captured_output = capfd.readouterr()
     assert (
-        "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'more_itertools'" in captured_output.out
+        "ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'rapids_test_dummy'"
+        in captured_output.out
     )
 
 
@@ -180,12 +186,12 @@ def test_setuptools_with_setup_requires_fails_with_informative_error(
             "dependencies-file": '"dependencies-rbb-only.yaml"',
         },
         "setup_py_lines": [
-            "import more_itertools",
+            "import rapids_test_dummy",
             "",
-            "print(more_itertools.__version__)",
+            "print(rapids_test_dummy.__version__)",
             "",
             "setup(",
-            "    setup_requires=['more-itertools'],",
+            "    setup_requires=['rapids-test-dummy'],",
             ")",
         ],
     }