It's Thanksgiving and time to make pumpkin pie. I used to make piecrust using Crisco and they turn out consistently well. However, I quit buying the stuff because it seemed too processed. Does anyone have a good, more natural piecrust recipe? My all oil recipe makes a healthy piecrust that falls apart. All butter seems like too much cholesterol. Perhaps half butter and half oil would be better?? Any suggestions?
Thanks for all of your suggestions. You mamas are the best !
I tried Janet M's piecrust recipe using oil, and Julie V's recipe with butter. Both recipes rolled out nicely and held together when I put them in the pie pan. I made a double recipe of each, one for a piecrust and one rolled out and sprinkled with sugar for "cookies". My boys and I did a taste test and here's the verdict. We all loved the taste of the butter recipe. You can really taste the butter. But it's so rich that one of my sons preferred eating the oil recipe plain, and thought the butter recipe would be better in a pie. The butter recipe held it's shape better as cookies but I liked the slightly crumbly texture of the piecrust with oil. The recipe using oil is also easier to make. The dough looked a little oily and was soft, so I was surprised at how pretty the crust turned out once baked.
So, bye bye Crisco. I like these 2 recipes much better. Thanks again Mamas!
Pie is not healthy. You eat it a few times a year. I am all about not anything processed, and being healthy. I give myself an out on special occasions, to eat the junky stuff. I'd just stick with the original pie crust you made, or find a good butter recipe. It's just pie, and it's moderation.
Use Crisco. It's PIE. Pie isn't health food, and you don't want it to taste like it is.
If I may suggest, the very best pie crust is one that is made with Crisco, and substitute vodka for the water. I know it sounds weird, but water reacts with the flour in a way that can make the crust tough. Vodka doesn't react this way with flour, and the crust will be wonderful. (And no, it doesn't taste like vodka when you're eating the pie!)
Happy Thanksgiving!
Butter is natural, and it's pie! Why use anything but butter! My mom makes a terrific Crisco crust, but after I started making mine with butter, everyone is sold on my crust. This recipe is awesome and easy (just made a pie yesterday). You will need to double it for a top and bottom.
1 1/4 Cup Flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 Cup cold butter, but into 8 pieces
3-5 Table of iced water
Shift flour and salt into food process. Turn on machine to even out. Add butter until looks like bread crumbs. Add 3-5 T of water until the dough looks like a fine powder. Do NOT mix until it comes together. Instead, use your fingers to see if it will pinch together. If it will pinch together and doesn't seem dry, then take out and press into a ball. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
LOL, the only time I ever use Crisco is when I make pie crust!
Keep using it for pie only (I assume you're not baking pie every day?)
As long as you are eating healthily every other day of the year, relax and ENJOY, we all indulge a bit (or more) during the holidays :)
I hate pie crust, you can pretty much bet I will eat the filling and leave the pie crust every time....
My MIL had the best pie crust I had ever tasted, I actually ate it and then made things that required a crust, like cobbler or other stuff. It is from a very old can of crisco.
It is not hard but the whipping part takes a few minutes, I stir it with a large fork for cold cuts.
Take:
3/4 cup shortening
2 TBSP milk
1 tsp salt
Then add:
1/4 BOILING WATER
Stir and stir and stir until it looks like whipped cream, about 5-7 minutes at most for me.
Then add:
2 Cups all purpose flour
stir it until it is a ball and like normal pie crust.
This is a very moist pie crust so roll it out between sheets of wax paper. It is the best ever!
I think I'll try the butter this year as the previous posted recommended. I stopped using Crisco also and my crusts have been terrible. But I was using oil so forget the oil. =) I was just thinking this same thing and thought maybe I'd just buy Crisco for my pie and throw it away afterwards. But now I'll probably try it with butter. =) Good luck!
This is the best and easiest pie crust recipe I've ever used. Everytime I make a pie and take it somewhere, I always have so many compliments on the crust.
Never Fail Pie Crust for a 2 crust pie:
2 ¼ C. flour
2/3 C. Canola oil
1 tsp. salt
5 Tablespoons ICE water (Here in Colorado I use about 1 tsp. more as the climate is SO dry)
Stir oil into flour and salt: stir in water. Roll out between 2 sheets of parchment or waxed paper.
For fruit pies, I always add 1 tsp. of sugar to the above ingredients. That small amount of sugar just enhances the flavor for fruit pies.
I always make my pie crust with 1/2 lard and 1/2 butter. You get the wonderful flakiness and texture of a lard crust with the flavor of butter. BTW lard from free range healthy pigs and butter from grassfed cows are loaded with vitamins A & D, omega oils and health building fats and cholesteral.
have you seen the expellar pressed oil shortenings (Spectrum is one brand I have tried)? You can buy them at natural food stores such as Whole Foods. Yes, a bit more expensive than Crisco. A little more fragile too, but delicious! The important part!
My mother who is 91 and counting makes the best pie crusts ever! uses crisco. And would never use anything else. Sorry. But my oh my it is the best pie crust and it is her only secret ingredient that she has. :) yum
I always use vegetable shortening because it seems to make the best flaky crusts. I don't particularly care for the taste of lard and butter has always been too oily. Still, if you are set on a non-shortening pie crust, I would suggest you look on allrecipes.com
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/no-fail-pie-crust-iii/detail...
You can see the reviews of different recipes and you may find something more suitable to your taste and lifestyle. :)
Julie V.'s recipe is the one I use (what she posted is for a single crust). It's called pate brisee and it's delicious. There is nothing unhealthy about butter - the idea that saturated fat raises cholesterol or that other fats like vegetable oils are healthy is a myth.
Try the butter recipe - it's so easy and turns out great every time.
I use lard. That's as classic as you can get. It actually makes a more flakey crust than butter. Good luck!
