I have waited almost six years to rate this recipe. I lived in China for 4 of those years teaching at a university. My students were eager to learn about American customs, holidays, food etc, but less interested in food because they were sure that McD's fully represented that genre. So I wanted to introduce real Am food. But Chinese kitchens do not have ovens, so we had to buy a toaster oven. They also only have tiny rolling pins to make Chinese dumplings - jiaozi. So this recipe was my answer. Well, six years later I have made several hundred apple, pumpkin, minced meat, turkey pot, chicken pot, chocolate, blueberry, peach and probably a few other kinds of pies using this recipe. Top crusts are made by patting out onto a piece of plastic wrap on a plate. I have only great things to say about the results!!! Thanks for wonderful memories, great tastes and cross-cultural fun!
This pie dough was very strange and oily when I was trying to pat it in the pie pan. A rolling pin does make it easier to get a consistant thickness in the crust (next time) but figured I'd give it a go. Had enough dough to also make a small tart so as an experiment I prebaked the tart shell for 10 minutes before pouring the sweet potato pie in it. Both pie crusts were very good especially since they are much healthier (used canola oil). The prebaked shell had a little more texture, both were crisp and had good color around the edge. Very good flavor (not oily in my opinion) but I used the "Pecan Sweet Potato Pie" recipe which is sooo good that the crust is secondary. I will definitely use this recipe from now on but will use a little less oil, 1 teaspoon sugar, and less water to start. Probably prebake the crust too but either way ... very easy and healthier ... won't be going back to butter or Crisco.
This recipe is AMAZING! I've always made my crusts with butter and/ or shortening, so they were fairly time-consuming & difficult to work with. But I whipped this crust up in 5 minutes, & it was delicious-- flaky, tender, & crisp (my pie crusts have tended to be soggy). I'm so glad I discovered this recipe at the beginning of summer so I can use it for all my fresh fruit pies!!
Christmas morning as I was prepping my desserts I found out the frozen pie shells I bought were all broken up. I figure I would just make one myself only to find out that I did not have any shortening and all the stores are close for Christmas. I did a search for pie crust with no shortening and found this site. What a great relief!! This is the easiest pie crust ever!! I was a bit skeptical at first considering I was going to make a crumb apple pie and a pecan pie and one of the reviews mentioned it was quite salty while another review mentioned it is best for quiche but not as a dessert pie crust. I did not want to take a chance on it being to salty so I put less salt than it asked for. I was going to try to use smart balance instead of oil but did not want to be to aggressive so I used canola oil in lieue of peanut oil. I do intend to use whole wheat flour and splenda next time and I will post a review for it when I did. Overall both apple and pecan pies turned out better than if I would have used a store bought frozen pie shell/crust. This pie crust tasted so wonderfull and especially easy and mess free. I definitely will email this recipe to everyone I know.
I really enjoyed this recipe! It was simple and quick to make. I made 2 sweet potato pies using this recipe. With the first pie, I press the dough into pie pan. That worked very well. With my second pie, I actually put the dough ball in between two pieces of wax paper and rolled it out using the palm of my hand. (I discovered that it actually works just as good, if not better than using a rolling pin.) This is too worked very well.
As for the taste, great. The texture was wonderful. It was very flaky and hearty. Unlike other reviews, I did not find the crust dry, rather it complimented my pie filling well.
I will never buy another storebrand pie crust or slave again to make homemade pie crust.
This recipe was fabulous! Thanks again!
I will never make a pie crust with unhealthy shortening again. I use canola oil for a heart-healthier crust. Roll this between two sheets of waxed paper. Couldn't be easier.
This makes a decent pie crust. Honestly pie crust is just better with shortening or lard but I will keep using this recipe for health reasons. I made pumpkin pie with it. In order to get the crust to hold to the walls of my no-stick pie pan I had to chill the pan with the dough in it for 15 minutes or so and then push it up the sides. After chilling it kept its form well.
I found this recipe here a few months ago when I needed a pie crust but had no rolling pin. Now many pies and praises later it is the only one I use. It is very simple and turns out perfect everytime. A definite 5 stars!!
I had no shortening in the house so I tried this recipe. I love it!! No pastry blending or rolling dough out getting flour everywhere!! It well served it's purpose as a pie crust... and quite frankly even if I have shortening I will probably make this one instead. This was the easiest dang pie crust I have EVER made... and tasty too!
Disappointing; oily and tough. I would not make this again.
