Crisco Pie Crust

There are a few easy tips to make really flaky butter pastry. Using a food processor and very cold ingredients like Crisco and butter, you will be amazed how fast and easy these perfect pie crusts turn out.

The key to a really good crust is to start with really cold shortening and butter. Leave them in the freezer overnight before you use them. I find the fastest, easiest and surest method to make great pie crusts is to use a food processor. It is very fast and easy, and you are not warming up the dough with your hands, so the result is a flaky butter pastry.

Once you have made the dough, you can store it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. You will need to let the dough soften before you can roll it out. For 2 x 9” crusts, you will need;

¼ lb (1 stick) frozen butter
¼ cup frozen Crisco shortening
2 cups flour
½ cup ice water
½ tsp salt (optional if you use salted butter)

Cut the butter and shortening into 6 or 7 pieces and put them in your food processor. Add in the flour and salt. Turn your food processor on for about 3 seconds then stop. (You can use the pulse feature if you have one.) Repeat this about 5 times or until the mixture looks like course oatmeal. Do not over beat.

Add the water in slowly as the machine is running (through the feed tube). Process for about 12 seconds more, or until the dough begins to gather around the blades.

Take the dough out of the machine and press it into a ball. Divide the ball into 2 pieces and wrap each ball in plastic wrap. Put the dough balls in the fridge to stay cold while you prepare your filling.

To roll out your dough, flour a large board and roll out the dough equally in all directions. You may need to let it soften a little as you do this. You can flip dough over once and continue to roll out till the dough is about 11” in diameter and 1/8” thick. Repair any cracks by pressing the edges together and smoothing or rolling them out.

Place prepared crust in the refrigerator for another 20 minutes to reduce shrinkage while baking. Prepared crusts can also be frozen for a later use.