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 »

31 Responses to “Kentucky Butter Cake”

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Megan — May 1, 2013 at 7:04 am
This sounds amazing! I’d be shocked if the people you manage don’t think you’re the best boss ever!
- beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 7:56 am
  
  Ha, I’m ok with bribing them with baked goods into feeling that way 🙂
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Eva @ Eva Bakes — May 1, 2013 at 7:40 am
I wish my boss would do something like this for us. This cake sounds phenomenal! Anything that tastes like a donut gets an A+ from me!
- beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 7:57 am
  
  I had a boss once who would bring a store bought cake and cut it into the same number of pieces as there were people at the meeting. And he made us sing. It was horrible.
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Erica @ In and Around Town — May 1, 2013 at 8:38 am
Definitely the best boss when you get homemade cakes that have been compared to a glazed donut! Congrats!!
- beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 9:05 am
  
  Thanks 🙂 I am pretty lucky in that my team is pretty awesome too.
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Tracy {Pale Yellow} — May 1, 2013 at 11:03 am
Congratulations on the promotion! Your team sounds lucky to have you and this cake looks gorgeous!
- beantownbaker — May 1st, 2013 @ 4:21 pm
  
  Thanks!
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Jill — May 1, 2013 at 4:24 pm
Congratulations on the promotion!! This looks and sounds delicious!
- beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 9:05 am
  
  Thanks
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chelsea @ serves two — May 1, 2013 at 10:22 pm
oh my! a giant glazed donut in cake form??!! yes please! i am sort of curious though as to why it’s called a kentucky butter cake 🙂
- beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 9:04 am
  
  I have no idea why it’s called Kentucky butter cake. I did a quick Google search and it doesn’t look like anyone knows.
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Sarah C — May 2, 2013 at 10:06 am
I’m glad there’s no explanation as to why it’s called a Kentucky Butter Cake, because I am making this for a themed food fest at work next week, and I’m changing it to Hawaiian Butter Cake so that I don’t have to find another recipe. 🙂
- beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 12:07 pm
  
  I like the way you work 🙂
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Kathy — May 2, 2013 at 10:50 am
The staff meeting treat sounds like a regular monthly blog post…cant wait to see what is on deck next month
- beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 12:08 pm
  
  For sure! I have already started asking my team members who have May birthdays about what they’d like. One said anything with chocolate. One said anything but chocolate. So that’s going to be a challenge! Luckily I’m the only June birthday so I’m going to go all out for June!
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Ashley Bee (Quarter Life Crisis Cuisine) — May 2, 2013 at 11:38 am
Ever seen The Office? Hehe… they looove birthday parties! And that’s so sweet that you’re acknowledging your workers like that. I’m sure you’re a great boss!
- beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 12:08 pm
  
  Ha – if only we could all have parties like they do on The Office…
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Shannon — May 2, 2013 at 2:48 pm
best boss ever 🙂 this looks fantastic!! we have birthday buddies that we bring cake for, and it’s a pretty awesome tradition 🙂
- beantownbaker — May 2nd, 2013 @ 4:13 pm
  
  Oh I like the birthday buddies idea! I’m not sure that would work for my team since it’s ~80% guys… I do joke that everyone needs a buddy cause sometimes I look around and can’t tell who we’re missing. It would be a lot easier to just ask if everyone’s buddy was here like when we were kids on field trips.
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Brooke Schweers — May 3, 2013 at 7:40 pm

Yum! Looks devine! Such a perfect looking cake and the glaze makes it look extra shiny and pretty!
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Nutmeg Nanny — May 4, 2013 at 2:37 pm

Oh, this is such a perfect looking cake 🙂
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Laura Dembowski — May 5, 2013 at 11:13 am

Oh, I so want a slice of this! Love cakes that are soaked with syrup. So yummy!
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Angie — May 6, 2013 at 3:23 pm
i made this on Friday for a brunch on Saturday. It was delicious and I got lots of compliments! I was surprised when i made it because there were no instructions about adding the butter to the batter. I assumed that the butter should be softened and mixed in, but I would’ve expected it to be mixed in earlier so that it would incorporate more fully. You might consider adding clarification to that step.
- beantownbaker — May 6th, 2013 @ 5:46 pm
  
  Glad you enjoyed the cake. The second sentence in the second step talks about adding the butter. Are the instructions confusing?
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ErinsFoodFiles — May 6, 2013 at 4:13 pm
I think I’ve seen this recipe elsewhere on the interwebs… (of course my eye is drawn to anything Kentucky, my home state!) Glad to hear it’s so good!
- beantownbaker — May 6th, 2013 @ 5:47 pm
  
  It’s definitely out there on the web! I couldn’t find any info about why it’s called Kentucky Butter Cake though. Do you know anything about it? Do you guys eat it in Kentucky?
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claire — May 10, 2013 at 2:11 pm
So the glaze is on the bottom of the cake correct? You don’t reserve any to pour over the top?
- beantownbaker — May 13th, 2013 @ 8:24 am
  
  Yep, you pour it all in to the bottom of the cake while it’s in the pan.
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Maggie Wells — September 9, 2013 at 9:14 pm
Hi there! Wonderful cake. Just wondering — did you let the cake sit overnight with the syrup soaking?
- beantownbaker — September 10th, 2013 @ 7:58 am
  
  Yep, I let the cake sit overnight after adding the syrup.