Who’s afraid of the big, bad pie crust?

I recently read a post on the Saveur magazine site that said, “It’s not only casual bakers who fear pie dough. Gifted chefs and talented home cooks are among those who leave the pie baking to their local supermarket or bakery.”

How do I love thee, lemon meringue pie?

Ummm…what? There are many things I fear to bake–croissants (and anything full-puff), choux pastries, and angel cakes–pie crusts are not one of them. They are easy as…well, pie!

Mmm, croissants.

I’ve tried many, many pie crust recipes over the years. I used an oil crust recipe for years with great success until, suddenly, it stopped working well. I still haven’t figured that one out but I suspect the laws of physics for this universe did a recent upgrade and now glitch for my oil crusts (how can you tell I write science fiction?)

Have rolling pin, will travel…or bake.

These days, my tried and true crust is the shortening crust in the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.

This has yet to fail me…but then again, I’ve not upgraded to Universe 9.5.42 yet. Just feast your eyes on the beauties that were not very hard to make!

Do you have a favorite pie or pie crust?