We use the frozen butter and grater when we make our biscuits. Then when it comes time to launder it I just shake it out really well and throw in the washer with towels. Lard is a perfectly acceptable substitute for shortening in most recipes. I have always made my crust very similar. I just made chicken pot pie. My crust was a little crumbly when pressing it in the pie plate, but it worked out great! Sorry if I’m not naming the recipe correctly, I’m at work, but it is absolutely AMAZING! In this sense there is a lot of pressure to make the perfect […], […] of pie filling in the freezer, you need a good crust! Add one teaspoon white vinegar per cup of flour in the dough. Use stick margarine instead of the softer, whipped varieties. Thanx for the recipe, I’ve used both kinds and they work great. In a pinch, coconut or vegetable oil can be used as a substitution for a recipe that calls for shortening. Maureen– it is a generational thing. In Australia we don’t typically make many sweet pies; caramel tart and the occasional apple pie is about as far as my family have ever gone so I am enjoying making pies we’ve never tried. I love a tender, flaky crust that is just barely brown on the edges, never burnt or crispy. Shortening was Lard or Butter. A Homemade Shortening Pie Crust can be made in just minutes. You can use a food processor if you’d like, just be sure not to over-process. The problem with most modern day pie crust recipes is that they call for shortening. 🙂, they get dirty though…they are handled by many and end up in carts and cars trunks…some have meat and other bacteria….be careful. I followed the recipe word by word and everyone who bit into the pies said the crust was hard as a brick. Err on the side of crumbly! Good morning! Been looking for a plain and simple pie crust recipe like this for ages, thank you so much! thanks! Melt butter in your pie pan & tilt the pan around till the bottom & sides are covered. This makes the dough easier to work with. Fill it with seasonal fruit for a stunning dessert, make my old-fashioned Cheddar Pear Pie, or grab a bag of peach pie filling from your freezer for a quick treat. How do you bake simple shortening free pie crust? It makes the best pastry ever. How did freezing your crusts world for you?! 3/4 cup butter-flavored Crisco I do not substitute a different brand – Crisco is the best!, chilled; 6-8 tablespoons ice water; 1 egg for egg ... to have the right amount for the shells. She uses butter. I think it’s a smart, creative crust idea to try with your leftover cookies — if you ever have such a thing. and actually preferred– this is what will give you a flakier end result. I can make great pie crust! Help!! Plastic grocery bags are dirrrrty! My recipe for Homemade Shortening Pie Crust makes enough for one pie with a top and bottom crust or two pies with a bottom crust … Perfect crust! In her post How To Make a Cookie Crumb Crust, Jennifer at Bake or Break offers a lot of tips for making a basic cookie crust using everything from graham crackers to shortbread cookies to Oreos. Trim around the edges (if needed), but leave an overhang around the edges of the pan. What will the pie be then if the butter is used instead of shortening? Pastry flour pie crust is harder to roll without cracking, and can split apart at the seams while the pie is baking. Thank you so much. Well, I definitely learned something new through this post. It’s a good way to “recycle” them if you have them. Shortening is limited and most crust recipes I have come across call for it. Maybe too much water? ^_^. It was so embarrassing. What a great time and mess saver. I made a flaky crust years ago & I used Vegetable Shortening and it turned out perfect. Hope this makes sense! Hi Cara! Growing up we called it Oleo. (Follow these instructions if your recipe calls for a pre-baked crust.). This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 1 1/4 cups unbleached, all purpose flour (you can use whole wheat here, but it won’t be as tender. I was reading through to see if anyone would mention a pastry cloth. Add three parts vegetable oil for every four … Roll it up around the rolling pin (like paper towels are rolled up around the cardboard tube) and then unroll it over the pie plate! Replace the fat in your pie crust recipe with the same amount of margarine. And since it has just a tiny touch of sugar, this pie crust is indeed perfect for both savory pies and sweet dessert pies.Store-bought pie crusts are not all vegan-friendly, so making a homemade one ensures you're getting what you want—a vegan pie crust. So, if your pie crust calls for ¼ cup shortening, you can just use ¼ cup butter. I made 6 crusts (3 in the freezer for later on) and made 3 pecan pies last night. There are a couple of inexpensive tools(?) I’d be curious to see what happens. I then use water from the tap rather than ice water. Lard is the shortest of all and makes excellent pastry.”. Would love to hear your thoughts! However, while it's the ideal ingredient from a texture perspective, it lacks the flavor of butter. I’ve always been a snob for homemade pie crust, too, and was at a total loss as to what to do now that we don’t use shortening (I actually keep a can of the nasty stuff for the *very* rare occasions we choose to treat ourselves – I always think “poison” when I see it in my cupboard). Overworked dough? I usually don’t use liquid oil since I like the flakiness of using solid fats. Butter weighs more than the same volume of shortening, making the latter light and airy. On the way home I kept asking myself “What did I do wrong?” and then I remembered, it was the butter. For me, olive oil is more heavy and greasy and not how I want a fruit pie to taste. I have just started cooking American style pies and my hubby and kids just love them. Thanks for all your healthy home made recipes. While I appreciate all the good hints, if you are going to post please know what you are talking about. Recipe is Dori Greenspan’s “good for almost everything pie dough”. I do not use either in my cooking. Chill the shaped pie shell for 30 minutes prior to baking; Preheat your oven to 375℉. My grandpa always used lard, and let me tell you, it made the BEST pie crust! This is an easy vegan pie crust recipe made with margarine and oil, instead of Crisco or solid shortening. I use one or two pieces of waxed paper on top of the dough as well. Crisco is good but not healthy, Butter and or Coconut Oil isn’t as light . Gross. Everyone loves the rich and salty flavor of butter. In cakes and breads, the substitution is rarely noticeable when using shortening vs. butter. Be sure to cover with a pie shield or foil strips while baking (at least for the first part, anyway). Hi there, How do you adjust the recipe if you want to put crust on top of the pie??? Thanks! However, I have seen recipes calling for olive oil, etc. Thank you for taking the time to respond 🙂. that all of the women in our family wouldn’t be without for pie crusts: a pastry cloth and rolling pin cover. The rolling pin cover resembles an open-ended sock and can also be seasoned with flour. To prepare the margarine, cut it into half-inch slices. The one thing I hate about making pie is having to use the wretched shortening. The first time I made one my husband and the crust was tough. Dust the dough with flour and chill it, wrapped in plastic wrap, for 1 hour. The freezing makes it extra cold and the grating gets you the right sized crumbs of butter without danger of overmixing. Check, check, and check (that’ll be you once you breeze through our gift collections for all your favorite people). Thank you! It is also very nice for curried meat pies. 😉 I got the idea to do that years ago on my own. I guess you could say that I’m a bit of a pie crust snob. I was chopping the butter into tiny cubes but that was taking forever, and it was melting on me (literally and figuratively) while I was trying to do it. You can also try my Honey Pumpkin Pie recipe and/or my Old-Fashioned Lemon Whey Pie recipe. This is now definitely my go to pie crust recipe. And don’t forget to check out my Prairie Homestead Cookbook! Pour into unbaked pie crust (I used this recipe- excellent!) Pie crust is among the simplest of recipes—flour, sugar, salt, and butter—but it's also one of the most finicky. I learned this from my mother. Piecrust made with butter or margarine will not be as flaky as one made with shortening. If a recipe calls for melted shortening, vegetable oil is a good swap. In my opinion, pie crust made with shortening is pretty hard to mess up! Thanks for a delicious pie crust, I’ll definitely be making this again!!! Cut in the fat using a pastry blender or two knives. Has a yo e ever frozen this pie crust? Since shortening is a hydrogenated, “fake” fat, I haven’t had it in my home for years. When we make homemade pie crusts, we use this recipe from The Prairie Homestead. And thank you Jill for the recipe! So I tried this today for my Christmas pumpkin pie, and I am sure it’s no fault of the recipe, but my crust was not flaky at all. Glad you stumbled across us! Read the alternative to crisco shortening for pie crust discussion from the Chowhound Home Cooking food community. Awesome website! It’s hard to overwork the dough with half vodka and half water, because the alcohol helps the flour stick together, but doesn’t ‘work’ the gluten in the flour the way water does. Little chunks of butter, coconut oil, or lard are perfectly o.k. 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