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I used the blue can Crisco...didn't feel good about it. I remember my aunt's crusts which were so delicious she would make crusts without fillings and they sometimes served as dessert ! Her recipe, long lost, was a combination of Crisco and butter. I don't know what the proportions were but soon I will start experimenting.
Baked a Joe Pieweed Pie this evening...fresh Michigan apples. Best pie crust ever ! Thanks Joe !!!
Hey Ha:
You are welcome! Very happy that the crust turned out so well for you just following the Pie Primer. Great time of year to bake pies.
Curious what kind of shortening you used. I'd like to get away from transfatty Crisco (originally manufactured as a candle substitute, re-marketed as a shortening when electric lightbulbs took the bottom out of the candle market). Haven't tried the green can Crisco sensa trans fats.
Have been experimenting with organic lard, but cannot beat the crispy/crunchy/flakiness of Crisco. Also, the lard I've used always has a "bacony" taste and odor, whereas Crisco has no taste or odor.
Will be experimenting with butter next few batches.
Remember, Pie/Poetry Party end of January.
Regards,
Joe P.
Hey everyone!
When I make pies, I use 2 1/4 cups flour, 3/4 TBS. salt, 1/2 cup Crisco, 2TBS chilled butter and 5-6 Tbs. ice water. I find that the Crisco makes a nice flaky crust, while the addition of a bit of butter makes the crust tender and gives it a rich flavor.
By the way,
For all of you anti trans fat bakers out there, there is a perfectly acceptable recipe for pie crust that my mother uses all the time. I think she got it from better Homes and Gardens, but I wouldn't swear to it. Like I said, It's acceptable, but not as good as the Crisco and butter recipe.
2.5 c. flour
2 TBS sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup canola or sunflower oil
6 TBS milk
Whisk dry ingredients together and add liquid all at once, tossing with a fork until mixture holds together. Divide in half,chill for 15 mins. and procede as usual.
This makes a pretty good crust, but when I want pie I don't worry about my arteries. My grandmother cooked with butter, Crisco and schmaltz (chicken fat) her entire life and lived to be 99 years old! When I was a kid we used to eat schmaltz and giebenes in mashed potatoes and egg salad, or even spread on home made pumpernikel bread! Bubbe always said she was glad they didn't "Invent Cholesterol" until she was an old lady because she would have missed out on a lot of great food! I have to agree!
I like to use butter flavored crisco for pie crusts........the best of both. If the flavor is not " to die for" then its not dessert. If I ate pie 3 or 4 times a day it would matter.
I made my favorite double chocolate cookie bars tonight
2 cups finely crushed creme-filled
chocolate sandwich cookies (24 cookies
1/4 cup margarine or butter melted
2 cups 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
1, 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pecans chopped
Pre heat oven to 350
Combine crumbs and margarine; press frimly on bottom of 13x9 baking dish
In a medium saucepan, over medium heat , melt 1 cup of chips with condensed milk and vanilla.Pour evenly and spread over prepared crust;top with nuts and remainging chips. Bake 20 minutes or till set. cool. chill if desired. Cut into bars. Store tightly covered at room temperature. makes about 24 to 30 bars. This is Very Rich.
Happy baking kathie k
Has anyone tried a pie with the gas off ? In my color oriented brain, it seems as it should work. Isn't the whole idea of the flaky crust to hit the pie with heat so the crisco/fat "explodes" creating flake ? Then the pie just needs to mellow and cook in the retained heat. So, If I stared a pie at 450 degrees and turned the gas off after five minutes, the retained heat 45 minutes later would have been sufficient to cook that pie. Yay ? Nay ?
I'd say try the retained heat, see what happens. You can't go wrong with a pie.
Back when I was cooking pies from scratch, I'd use pure butter and a dash of canola oil instead of crisco. Like Grandma used to say, "Butter makes it better!"
Oh reading this has made me so hungry for pie!!
Unfortunately, I have never made a pie crust or a pot pie. Mostly due to the hot hot climate here in South Texas. I'm still mastering the art of Bar-B-Que. If I could only do that on a Chambers!!
Ha,
Do like the french .....butter! They've been making their fruit tarts that way forever. I would chill the butter cut it into the flour like the shortening, stir in ice water with a 1/4 teaspoon vinegar. You should see the same results.
Treatmaker
Ha et all:
CWTGTO? Absolutely!!!!
Especially in the Thermowell with the Thermobaker. (The Idle Hour says something to the effect that the amount of fireing time gives the crust some color, then the pie cooks on retained heat).
I've got a B and pie baking in the thermowell is not really practical. Possible, yes, but requires lots of attention.
That said, CWTGTO in the main oven is totally fine. Takes a little experimenting as to firing temp/time, but the Idle Hour recommendations are pretty close.
I totally agree with Nachum's sentiments recalling her Grandma's attitude toward the type of prefered shortening. In my Pie Primer, I say "Pie is poetical, magical, maybe even a miracle. It is not medicinal". Go with whatever fat substance you desire. My Great Grandma Jessie used Crisco from the gitgo (Crisco was used bigtime by kosher cooks when it hit the market back at the turn of the previous century). She lived to be 98.
Still, she couldn't use lard because of her religious beliefs. I'd rather use lard or butter because I believe that minimally processed foods are better for us and the environment.
Joe P
Re: Crisco...funny how memories lay dormant for years and suddenly, there you are again at Grandma's kitchen table making pie dough but this time, there is no big blue can of Crisco...grandma says "milchik [dairy] dinner". I remember two different types of pies and crusts and all these years later, I finally know why. Thanks for the memory refresher Joe !