Pie Crust
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.






I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 






I agree with you…i think the right type of frosting can really change the flavor of a cake/cupcake.
Your cupcakes turned out beautifully and i am sure they taste superb!
Are you coming to Cupcake Camp? I haven’t decided what I’m making, but it’ll likely include SMBC. If you try mine and hate it, I’ll have to accept that you just don’t like it.
Sorry to make you crave desserts!
Aww thanks. Practice makes perfect. I don’t even want to think about how many cupcakes I’ve frosted…
I enjoy carrot cake but Hubby doesn’t like it, so I never make it. I just might have to soon though…
Ha that’s funny. I’m not going to lie, I love me some cookie cake!
Thanks!
These are absolutely beautiful! And I love the idea of swiss meringue buttercream 🙂
Sues
what tip number do you use to get your perfect looking frosting swirl? i’ve been having a difficult time making it look symmetrical!