Making the Perfect Pie Crust

My busy work schedule often moves creative cooking to the back burner. Such long sabbaticals often make me forget just how much I enjoy channeling my inner chef. At the Smucker’s “Gathering Round the Family Table” event, my work suddenly blended with my cooking passion leading to the creation of a pie that looked just as incredible as it tasted.

Sarah Donahue from the culinary institute instructed all attendees on how to make the perfect pie crust using the classic Crisco recipe that stems from the rich 100-year history of the brand. Introduced in 1911, Crisco quickly gained a permanent spot in the pantries of families nationwide. Now, just in time for Thanksgiving, grab the shortening, choose your pie filling, and gear up to watch smiles spread across the faces of your most beloved family and friends.

Crisco Classic Pie Crust
Makes a single crust

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups Pillsbury BEST All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 stick well-chilled Crisco Baking Sticks All-Vegetable Shortening
• OR 1/2 cup well-chilled Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening
• 3 to 6 tablespoons ice cold water

Preparation Instructions:

1. BLEND flour and salt in medium mixing bowl.
2. CUT chilled shortening into 1/2-inch cubes. Cut in chilled shortening cubes into flour mixture, using a pastry blender, in an up and down chopping motion, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some small pea-sized pieces remaining.
3. SPRINKLE half the maximum recommended amount of ice cold water over the flour mixture. Using a fork, stir and draw flour from bottom of bowl to the top, distributing moisture evenly into flour. Press chunks down to bottom of bowl with fork. Add more water by the tablespoon, until dough is moist enough to hold together when pressed together. TIP: Test dough for proper moistness by squeezing a marble-sized ball of dough in your hand. If it holds together firmly, do not add any additional water. If the dough crumbles, add more water by the tablespoonful, until dough is moist enough to form a smooth ball when pressed together.
4. SHAPE dough into a ball for single pie crust. Divide dough in two for double crust or double deep dish crust, one ball slightly larger than the other. Flatten ball(s) into 1/2-inch thick round disk(s). TIP: 
For ease in rolling, wrap dough in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes or up to 2 days.
5. ROLL dough (larger ball of dough for double crust pie) from center outward with steady pressure on a lightly floured work surface (or between two sheets of wax or parchment paper) into a circle 2-inches wider than pie plate for the bottom crust. Transfer dough to pie plate by loosely rolling around rolling pin. Center the rolling pin over the pie plate, and then unroll, easing dough into pie plate.
6. TRIM edges of dough leaving a 3/4-inch overhang. Fold edge under. Flute dough as desired. Bake according to specific recipe directions.

Pumpkin Pie Filling
Ingredients:

• 1 can pumpkin pie filling
• 2 eggs
• Pinch of salt, cinnamon nutmeg, and ginger
• 1 can Eagle Sweetened Condensed milk

Preparation Instructions

1. Blend ingredients.
2. Pour into pie crust
3. BAKE 50 to 55 minutes or until knife inserted 2 inches from edge comes out clean.

Disclosure: Stacy DeBroff attended the Smucker’s Blogger Education event on behalf of Mom Central.

Stacy DeBroff

Stacy DeBroff, founder and CEO of Mom Central.com and social and digital consultancy, Influence Central, is a social media strategist, attorney, and best-selling parenting author. A sought-after expert for national media, she trend-spots regularly with national brands and speaks frequently to national and international audiences on a wide range of subjects, including influencer marketing, social media, entrepreneurship, and consumer trends. A passionate cook, gardener, reader, and tennis player, she adores this new chapter of post-college-age parenting.