Basic Pie Dough - Butter Pie Crust

This was my first ever attempt at making a homemade butter pie crust. It was so easy because it used the food processor and it took no effort at all and it turned out great. Now, I'm not going to get those expensive store-bought crusts anymore. This tastes way better and it really holds up well to a wet fruit filling.

Basic Pie Dough

Makes enough dough for 1 double-crust pie or 2 single-crust pies

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) COLD unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water

Directions

1) In a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar; pulse to combine. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with just a few pea-size pieces of butter remaining.

2) Sprinkle with 1/4 cup ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed with fingers (if necessary, add up to 1/4 cup more water, 1 tablespoon at a time). To help ensure a flaky crust, do not overprocess.

3) Transfer half of dough (still crumbly) onto a piece of plastic wrap. Form dough into a disk 3/4 inch thick; wrap tightly in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (and up to 3 days). Repeat with remaining dough. (Disks can be frozen, tightly wrapped, up to 3 months. Thaw before using.) Makes 2 disks.



Tip:
Adding the correct amount of water to pie dough can be tricky, but here's a fail-safe method: Squeeze a small handful of dough - if it holds together, it's just right. (I added too much water the first time I made it and it still turned out great, but I'm sure it would've been even better if I had added the water more slowly.)



When ready to use pie dough:

On a floured piece of parchment paper, roll one disk of dough to a 14-inch round. Wrap dough around rolling pin; unroll over a 9-inch pie plate. Gently fit into bottom and sides of plate (do not stretch dough). Using kitchen shears, trim dough to a 1-inch overhang all around. To make a decorative edge, crimp rim with fingertips and knuckle. Refrigerate until ready to use. Reserve and refrigerate remaining disk of dough for top crust or another single crust pie.



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Pretzel Pie Crust

This is a great twist to use instead of graham cracker crusts in key lime pies (then it would become a margarita pie), fruit pies, or ice cream pies.

Pretzel Pie Crust

1/3 cup butter
3 tbs. sugar
1 1/4 cups crushed pretzels (can easily crush in food processor by pulsing it)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 9 in. pie plate with non-stick spray. In a saucepan, melt butter and stir in sugar (can also do in microwave). Remove from stove. Stir in crushed pretzels until mixed well. Press into pie plate. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes. Cool before filling.



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Homemade Graham Cracker Crust

Save a bunch of money and easily make your own graham cracker crust at home, not like the expensive one in the picture. I like to use the cinnamon flavored graham crackers because they give such a good flavor.

Graham Cracker Crust

1 2/3 cups graham crackers, ground (5 1/3 oz.)
(I use 9 full graham crackers - 1 plastic package - then I process it in the food processor and it is so much easier than banging them in a bag with a rolling pin.)
1/4 cup sugar
6 tbs. melted butter

Combine all ingredients, mixing well. Firmly press crumb mixture evenly over bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie plate.

For frozen pies, crust may be used without baking. For other pies, bake at 350 deg. F. for 7 to 9 minutes.



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Key Lime Pie

This is the easiest and best-tasting key lime pie I've ever had. No cooking or eggs required and you can't beat the taste. This is also the exact same award-winning recipe from a grocery store that I worked at that will remain nameless. You can easily make a lemon pie by just substituting lemon juice for the lime juice.

Key Lime Pie

4 oz. key lime juice
2-14 oz. cans sweetened condensed milk
prepared graham cracker crust

Blend juice and milk. Pour in pie crust and chill until set. Top with whipped cream.

Alternative version - Mix in 8 oz. bar softened cream cheese and beat until well mixed and put in a pretzel crust. (I'll be posted graham cracker and pretzel crusts on this site as well.)

Raspberry Key Lime Pie - Swirl in raspberry preserves after you've poured filling in crust and chill.

Another great version is to top it with whipped cream and then put fresh sliced strawberries on top. Yummm!!



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