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Perfect Pie Crust and Giveaway!

ByLizzy Mae Early

perfect pie crust

The Story:

Confession.  For the longest time I thought the movie was The Count of Monte Crisco.  Yeah… I guess I spend too much time in the kitchen.  

——-

On to less embarrassing things…I’m excited to be a Pie Partner with Crisco® this December and bring you a bunch of great pie recipes AND this amazing giveaway! 

First, let’s talk pie crust. 

Do you buy it pre-made from the store?  How come?  It’s only 4 ingredients!  Flour, salt, Crisco and water.  If you have a food processor, it’s even easier! 

So let’s make some pie crust! (Recipe is down near the bottom.)

First: You’ll need flour, salt, Crisco and water.  Make sure the Crisco is very cold and cut into small chunks.  The water needs to be cold as well, so I usually put some water in a bowl of ice and spoon the water out of that.  

crisco pie crust recipe

Second: Combine the flour and salt.

perfect pie crust recipe

Third: Add Crisco.  If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a pastry blender.

pie crust using shortening

Blend, blend…

how to make pie crust

Fourth: Add a little bit of cold water at a time until you can form a ball with the dough.  I’ll just take a pinch of crumbly dough and see if it sticks together.  

perfect pies

Fifth: Wrap and let chill for 30 minutes, OR you can leave it in the fridge for 2 days if you want to make a pie later on.  

Sixth: Roll out on a lightly floured surface or use my parchment paper tip here. Fit it into your pie pan and you’re ready for an awesome pie filling!

perfect pie crust dough

Perfect Pie Crust and Giveaway!

4.41 from 5 votes
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Ingredients
  

For a SINGLE CRUST:

  • 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup well-chilled Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening
  • 3 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water

For a DOUBLE CRUST:

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup well-chilledCrisco® All-Vegetable Shortening
  • 4 to 8 tablespoons ice cold water

For a DEEP DISH DOUBLE CRUST:

  • 2 2/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup well-chilledCrisco® All-Vegetable Shortening
  • 6 to 10 tablespoons ice cold water

Instructions
 

  • 1. BLEND flour and salt in medium mixing bowl.
  • 2. CUT chilled shortening into 1/2-inch cubes. Cut in chilled shortening cubes into flour mixture, using a pastry blender (or food processor) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some small pea-sized pieces remaining.
  • 3. SPRINKLE half the maximum recommended amount of ice cold water over the flour mixture. Using a fork, stir and draw flour from bottom of bowl to the top, distributing moisture evenly into flour. Press chunks down to bottom of bowl with fork. Add more water by the tablespoon, until dough is moist enough to hold together when pressed together. (You can do this step in a food processor too.)
  • 4. SHAPE dough into a ball for single pie crust. Divide dough in two for double crust or double deep dish crust, one ball slightly larger than the other. Flatten ball(s) into 1/2-inch thick round disk(s).
  • 5. ROLL dough (larger ball of dough for double crust pie) from center outward with steady pressure on a lightly floured work surface (or between two sheets of wax or parchment paper) into a circle 2-inches wider than pie plate for the bottom crust. Transfer dough to pie plate by loosely rolling around rolling pin. Center the rolling pin over the pie plate, and then unroll, easing dough into pie plate.
  • -For a SINGLE pie crust, trim edges of dough leaving a 3/4-inch overhang. Fold edge under. Flute dough as desired. Bake according to specific recipe directions.
  • -For a DOUBLE pie crust, roll larger disk for bottom crust, trimming edges of dough even with outer edge of pie plate. Fill unbaked pie crust according to recipe directions. Roll out smaller dough disk. Transfer dough carefully onto filled pie. Trim edges of dough leaving a 3/4-inch overhang. Fold top edge under bottom crust. Press edges together to seal and flute as desired. Cut slits in top crust or prick with fork to vent steam. Bake according to specific recipe directions.
  • Two Methods for Pre-baking Pie Crusts (Cream Pies):
  • -Pre-baking without weights: Thoroughly prick bottom and sides of unbaked pie dough with fork (50 times) to prevent it from blistering or rising. Bake crust in lower third of oven, at 425°F, 10-12 minutes or until edges and bottom are golden brown.
  • -Pre-baking with weights: Thoroughly prick bottom and sides of unbaked pie dough with fork (50 times) to prevent it from blistering or rising. Chill or freeze for 30 minutes. Line pie dough snugly with foil or parchment paper. Fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake at 375°F for 20 minutes. Remove foil and weights. Reduce oven to 350°F. Bake 5-10 minutes or until edges and bottom are golden brown.
  • NOTES:
  • Test dough for proper moistness by squeezing a marble-sized ball of dough in your hand. If it holds together firmly, do not add any additional water. If the dough crumbles, add more water by the tablespoonful, until dough is moist enough to form a smooth ball when pressed together.
  • For ease in rolling, wrap dough in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes or up to 2 days.

Did you know there’s a “Pie Hotline”? Oh yes, you bet there is!  Give them a call for all your pie questions!

1-877-FOR-PIE-TIPS (877-367-7438)

Live pie experts can be reached Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET and extended hours 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. ET from December 16 – 23.  Additionally, recorded tips and tricks can be accessed 24 hours a day.

Love pies and want more ideas? Check out the Crisco Pinterest Boards for holiday pie baking inspiration or the Crisco website to find tips and recipes from Michele Stuart! She’s the author of the best-selling cookbooks Perfect Pies and the new Perfect Pies & More. There’s a Michele Stuart baking prize up for grabs on the Crisco site too! Just enter their Rate and Review Promotion for the chance to win another present for under your tree.

Now for the AWESOME giveaway.

Pie Pack Giveaway

The Pie Pack Includes:

A Baby Cakes Pie Pop Maker and extra pie pop sticks

A white fluted pie pan  from Sur La Table that is perfectly adorable!

Breville Personal Pie Maker-this is the coolest thing ever!

You’ll also get a Lattice Pie Cutter and lots of Crisco to bake your pies with!

 

How to Enter: Up to 9 possible ways 🙂 

1. Comment below telling me your favorite pie flavor!

2. “Pin” any Your Cup of Cake recipe! (Up to 5 times) And comment telling me you did!

3. “Like” You Cup of Cake of Facebook and comment telling me you did!

4. Follow Your Cup of Cake on Instagram  and comment telling me you did

5. “Share” A link to a Your Cup of Cake recipe on Facebook and comment telling me you did!

IMPORTANT: Make sure you leave a separate comment on this blog post for each entry! 

Giveaway Closes December 20th, 2013 11:59 PM MST

Open to continental USA residents over age 18. Winner will be chosen by random and will be contacted by email. Winner must respond within 24 hours to claim the giveaway. This giveaway is sponsored by Crisco®. I was compensated for my time

Some of my favorite holiday recipes:

Peppermint Bark Puppy Chow 

Andes Mint Cupcakes

Hot Chocolate Truffles

Eggnog Cookies

Eggnog Cranberry Quick Bread

 

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526 Comments

  6. Lemon meringue is my favorite to make and eat!! Just made two for Thanksgiving!
    “Liked” Your cup of cake on Facebook.

  8. My favorite pie: tough one! Not tough pie crust but decision. I love chocolate cream, coconut cream,
    a good apple, lemon. I guess I just love pie in general. I also like the little pasteries make from left-over pie crust.
    We sprinkle cinnamon and sugar and dot with butter, then bake. Yum! A bakery used to make these and call them snails! Love them and the memories of helping mom in the kitchen when I was a kid.
    Lynn

  10. My favorite pie of all time would have to be cherry!! Mmmmm…it just looks so pretty, and tastes sooooo good! :). I love all your recipes!! So glad I came across your website!!

  11. I love to bake anything and everything. My specialty is cheesecakes. I would love to see if my idea of using those personal pie makers would work for small cheesecakes, say, lining the bowls with parchment paper.

  18. Peanut butter pie, the recipe from cool whip not cream cheese… and anything lemon lol! I signed up for email recipes from you for the ideas and great pictures! You are so talented!

  22. Pick just one????? Almost impossible … coconut cream pie with whipped topping, not meringue.

  30. Derby pie is my absolute favorite!!! For those who don’t know what that is, it is a bourbon, chocolate chip and walnut pie that is fabulous but you can only get it here in Kentucky unless you make it yourself!

  33. I love pumpkin pie. And cherry. And blueberry…On second thought, I’m good with all flavors.

  51. I pinned your Chocolate Mousse Cupcakes with Candy Cane Crunch Recipe — making them for a party this weekend!

  52. Pinned Your Ultimate Grasshopper Cookies — they’re so pretty! Not sure yet what I’ll bake them for!

  65. My favorite pie recipe is pumpkin … or maybe apple … cheesecake? Perhaps berry? Too many good ones to pick a favorite 🙂

  68. Since I have a mouth full of sweet “teeth” I do not have a favorite pie flavor, However, being from and in the South, I often make pecan, pumpkin, sweet potato, cherry, peach, and coconut pies. My husband’s favorite is Key Lime so I make it often in the Summer months.

    I use Crisco in all my pie crusts, but I prefer the butter flavored Crisco sticks. Its more flavorful for my pies and easy to cut into little squares for my pie crust.

    I love your Website, Facebook, etc. Keep up the good work and let me know when I can get that new Cookbook?

  69. I love pie…not sure if I have one true favorite, but in fall it’s apple or pumpkin, winter I like something that holds up to warming up say cherry or berry and of course love it ala mode!!! Summer I love either fresh peach or strawberry and Spring it’s coconut cream…. but trust me when I say I have many more I love so how do I choose! Thanks for the chance to win! 🙂

  77. I practically pin all your recpies to my Cupcakes board…they are so lovely…and I purchased your book for my Kindle…it is gorgeous!!!!

  91. I love Lemon Meringue and I like your facebook page! I loved reading your tips and tricks for pie crust this morning, I’m really excited to start my Christmas baking!!

  96. I am ever the traditionalist; my favorites are apple and blueberry. I would love lemon meringue but I just don’t make it as well as my dear mom did.

  103. I pinned pumpkin snickerdoodle cupcakes. Yum!!

    BTW, I made the no bake peanut butter bars and EVERYONE loved them! Thanks!

  105. My favorite pie flavor is apple, but I like it with the crumbly stuff on top. Sometimes it’s called French Apple and sometimes Dutch Apple.

  143. I pinned 5 things:
    White Chocolate Candy Cane Truffles
    Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
    Caramel Apple Pie
    Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes
    No Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

  163. I Pinned:
    Peppermint Bark Puppy Chow
    Andes Mint Cupcakes
    Chocolate Swirl Candy Cane Fudge
    Homemade Oreos
    Dark Chocolate Candy Cane Whoopie Pies

  185. I didn’t read part of the directions so will list each pin to Pinterest separately! My bad!

  216. FOR MARGOT:
    I “Like” You Cup of Cake of Facebook as Margot Core.
    I follow Your Cup of Cake on Instagram where I am @margotcore.

  250. My very favorite pie was my grandmother Aggie’s, Chocolate Cream Pie with Meringue topping. She made it every Sunday for dinner when I was little. I could never match her pie crust. I JUST got a food processor and now will try your method and recipe and maybe I will finally match her magic.

  251. I Pinned your Peppermint Bark. It will be a perfect addition to the Christmas Give-away goodie bags at work.

  254. I hid a few of the candybars before Holloween and made the Butterfinger Cookies last week. Everyone at work loved them. I Pinned them.

  257. Pumpkin Pie. I love pumpkin pie with a passion. Especially with a little whipped cream on top….or a lot of whipped cream depending on my mood. :+)

  282. I love lemon chess pie! And pecan pie! And chocolate chess pie!! Ok…that was more than one.

  304. My favorite pie is coconut cream. I have loved it since I was little and my great grandmother use to make it for me

  306. My favorite pie flavor is ANYTHING with pumpkin or apple. But then again, I like any pie flavor actually 🙂

  315. I found your site last week. I made the German Chocolate cupcakes, which were a big hit!. Since then I have “liked” you on FB and shared your link on my FB page. My favorite pie would be coconut cream!

  354. I liked you on facebook. I also love fresh baked cherry pie and I top it with french vanilla bean ice cream while its still really warm. 🙂 There is something about melted ice cream and pie. Especially good pie. 🙂

  363. Lastly, I pinned your peppermint bark puppy chow which I am DEFINITELY going to make! Thanks for all the delicious recipes:)

  364. I’m following your cup of cake on Facebook and liked you…I also got your cookbook…because I REALLY like you…lol

  393. I love Apple pie with a crumb topping. When I was young, my family would put a slice of American Cheese on top.

  412. I shared the dark chocolate candy cane whoopie pie recipe (because everyone at school was asking for it!!)

  417. I like any kind of pies except for magpies and cow pies! I would much rather have a birthday pie than a birthday cake!

  430. Posted your link to your peppermint bark puppy chow on my facebook page 🙂 My daughter will love this… she loves all things peppermint!

  434. Pinned your Easy Banana Cupcakes 🙂 I don’t know how I missed this one. My boss loves anything with Banana. I am definitely going to make these!

  470. Ooo… this is difficult but I think that I would say my mom’s pecan pie! Great question, but very difficult!! 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

  478. Too many favorite pies to choose from! I’ll narrow it down to Dutch apple, pumpkin, and French silk pie. 🙂

  481. I love chocolate pie! I found a recipe for the chocolate pie that they used in the movie The help. Good story went with it and how they found the person to bake the pie for the movie.

  482. Like on Facebook and shared banana pie recipe, following on Instagram and pinned chocolate chip cupcake on Pinterest.

  484. Apple, pumpkin, banana cream, chocolate cream, lemon, fruit pies. Who doesn’t love pie???

  486. Lemon Neapolitan Cupcakes, Pumpkin Rose Cupcakes, Grasshopper Cupcakes, Fruity Pebble Cupcakes, Butterfinger Cupcakes, Blackberry lemonade cupcakes

  496. I posted your pie crust recipe. It is very similar to the recipe my mom passed down to me and it was passed down to her from my grandma. I love making pie!

  498. I tried the eggnog pie. We will definitely be having it again. Made it with my own homemade eggnog too.

    Your recipes are the BOMB!

  501. My favorite pie is pecan. And I’ve been making my pie crust with Crisco since my mother taught me when I was 6 years old.

  512. 2 stars
    I am 76 years old. I have never successfully made a pie. The recipe for pie crust was unsuccessful also. Suggestion: 1. indicate the size of pie pan. 2. Increase the recipe to allow for those of us (beginners) who could use extra ingredients for ease of rolling out the dough.
    Susan

  513. My favorite pie?! Is this a test? How can i choose between key lime and apple and pumpkin and blueberry? They’re all my favorites!!

  515. Hi Susan.
    I really think she covered what you need to know to make a pie crust. Keep shortening and water extremely cold (probably good idea to put moving bowl in freezer for a few minutes too); don’t over work dough, just enough, or else gluten ruins the whole recipe; work quickly also.
    I had to add a lot more water to get it to the right consistency, but it came out great!
    Another tip I’d like to add that my culinary teacher taught me is to flour dough lightly once rolled out and ready to add to pie pan, fold dough “circle” in half, them in half again; pick up and place on corner of prepared pie, and unfold.
    As for the pie pan, If you go to Walmart – or any place really – the size of the pans will be generally the same.
    And if you want to increase the yield of the recipe, just multiply all the ingredients by the same number. For example, if you want to double it, multiply everything by 2; if you want to triple it, multiply everything by 3; if you want 10 times the amount, multiply each ingredient by 10; etc.
    I hope this helps.
    This was my first successful pie crust after many sad unsuccessful attempts. I would give it another try. 🙂

  518. Why is your recipe vastly different from the recipe in your package? The recipe in the package says 2 cups flour and 1 cup crisco?

  520. 5 stars
    this is the best information I seen in a blog regarding pie cruss that single, double or deep dish. Thank you ….because is so useful.

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