Pie Crust

Monday, November 17, 2008

I’m going to be posting the recipes I used for my pie competition over the next couple of days. The first thing needed when baking pies is a crust. I’ve actually never made full sized pie crusts before. I went with a William Sonoma recipe that is similar to most pie crust recipes out there. I used butter flavored Crisco and the crusts turned out flaky and delicious. I made 4 crusts even though I only needed 3 just in case I needed that extra one.

See WS link for ingredient list for 1 pie crust and for food processor method. I made sure everything was VERY cold before making my crusts. I measured the ingredients into bowl and put them in the freezer for 45 minutes. I also put my mixing bowl and pastry cutter into the freezer for about 20 minutes.

Pie crust – from William Sonoma
For a 9-inch double-crust pie:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup vegetable shortening
6 to 7 Tbs. cold water

Combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl and toss together. Add the shortening. With your fingertips, 2 knives or a pastry blender, blend the ingredients together, working quickly, until you have a mixture of tiny, irregular flakes and bits about the size of coarse bread crumbs. Sprinkle on the water, 1 Tbs. at a time, stirring gently with a fork after each addition. Add just enough water for the dough to form a rough mass.

With floured hands, pat the dough into a smooth disk (or into 2 disks, one just slightly larger than the other, if you are making a double-crust pie). The dough is now ready to use. It is not necessary to refrigerate the dough before rolling out (unless you included some butter), although for convenience it may be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 days.

Dessert, Go-To Recipes, Pies and Tarts

3 comments »

30 Responses to “Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake”

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CB — March 30, 2008 at 4:57 am

I love the idea of perfect party minicakes!! They look delish! Great job! That flour picture is so funny. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve done that – flour on the counter, on my KA, in my hair, on my face!
Clara @ I♥food4thought
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Nemmie — March 30, 2008 at 5:10 am

Yum! Love the raspberry/lemon combo, and the mini cakes are adorable 🙂
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Morven — March 30, 2008 at 11:36 am

Well done – what an innovative variation. They look so cute!
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Maryann — March 30, 2008 at 11:49 am

I can totally relate to the slippery effect.
Your cake looks beautiful!
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Sheltie Girl — March 30, 2008 at 12:09 pm

You did a lovely job on all your mini cakes.

Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go
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slush — March 30, 2008 at 1:23 pm

Adorable! Your KA and mine would be best friends. ‘Chuck’ is always filthy. Poor guy. He gets cleaned up, just to be coated again. 😉
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Ben — March 30, 2008 at 1:27 pm

How cute! Making mini-cakes is a great idea. Next time I make this cake I will try that, I still have a HUGE cake in the fridge I need to eat :-/

Cheers!
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~Amber~ — March 30, 2008 at 2:24 pm

Great idea on the mini cakes. They are really cute. Great job. To the next challenge we go.
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Carrie — March 30, 2008 at 3:21 pm

beautifully done!!! love it!!!
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Jerry — March 30, 2008 at 3:59 pm

I love the little cakes! Plus the raspberries! Yummy!
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11

L Vanel — March 30, 2008 at 4:20 pm

The mini cakes look really amazing!
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Allergy Mom — March 30, 2008 at 4:46 pm

The minicakes are wonderful! Now, you’ll need my address to send one…Libby 😉
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Butta Buns — March 30, 2008 at 5:23 pm

Love the idea of the mini cakes, that’s so adorable!
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Bridget — March 30, 2008 at 7:16 pm

Mini-cakes are definitely more work than one large cake! They’re so cute though.
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Nikki — March 30, 2008 at 7:43 pm

What a cute idea! They look adorable!
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Gail — March 30, 2008 at 7:51 pm

I love desserts in miniature and your mini cakes look beautiful. I think I will most definitely be making mini cakes sometime in the near future – thank you for the wonderful idea!

~gail
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Claire — March 30, 2008 at 9:04 pm

I’m loving the mini versions! The cake looks fantastic. Mmmmm!
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Peabody — March 30, 2008 at 9:32 pm

I made mini ones too. I hate to tell you but it is way easier to frost a whole cake than mini ones. 🙂
Looks great.
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Beth G. — March 30, 2008 at 9:52 pm

Beautiful!! You did a gorgeous job :O)
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Namratha — March 30, 2008 at 11:08 pm

These individual cakes look pretty…well done!
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Lesley — March 31, 2008 at 12:10 am

Really cute idea to make individual cakes, I love that. Great job!
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jasmine — March 31, 2008 at 12:58 am

I adore your minicakes. V lovely.

j
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leafy bombshell — March 31, 2008 at 2:23 am

Oh! the minicakes are just the best idea ever. I probably should have done that with my oh-so flat cakes. How great.
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Ritsumei — March 31, 2008 at 3:57 am

Mini cakes -what a great idea! I think I’m going to have to try that here pretty soon. Looks like a delicious lot of fun. Especially the part where you get to eat the scraps. I think this cake was some of the best I’ve had.
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ruthEbabes — March 31, 2008 at 2:15 pm

What cute little mini cakes! Aren’t things just better when they’re mini?

Great work!
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Gabi — March 31, 2008 at 4:00 pm

I love the little cakes and the picture with the raspberry and lemon zest is so enticing!
Perfect!
xoxo
Gabi
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Jenny — April 1, 2008 at 1:14 am

Another messy baker here! And I love the mini cakes – I’m nice to see its as low-tech as cutting circles out of larger pieces rather than trying to bake a bunch of cakes in miniature pans.
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creampuff — April 1, 2008 at 1:55 am

Jen,

Your little cakes are gorgeous! I too love swiss buttercream … congratulations on a job well done!
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JMom — April 1, 2008 at 9:12 pm

wow, that takes some patience, putting all those cakes together! They are just the cutest though. ~ JMom
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Big Boys Oven — April 2, 2008 at 8:54 am

so petite and cute!