All-Butter Pie Crust Recipe With Picture Tutorial

There is nothing like a homemade all-butter pie crust for your pies. Today I wanted to share with you an easy recipe for preparing an all butter pie crust that you can use creating your food processor. I am providing an, “easy as pie,” picture tutorial for pie crust creating and tomorrow I will share my recipe for an absolutely perfect pumpkin pie for your Thanksgiving feasting.

This recipe will yield a double crust which is perfect for those delicious apple pies or you can use your second crust, as shown below, to create cute decorative edges with little pie cutters. I like to call these decorative edges “concealer for the imperfect.”  Let’s be honest, baking isn’t my strongest skill so a girl has to become a whiz at hiding those imperfections. I might do this in a few other areas of my life too…*ahem*.

When it comes to baking, I heavily rely upon my America’s Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. The recipes are reliable and provide consistently great baked goods for our family. I only checked the book out 24 times before I got it for a holiday gift. It really is that good.

Why Sour Cream?

According to the cookbook, the tiny amount of sour cream you add to this dough makes the dough a little easier to work with, more flavorful, and tender. The acid in the sour cream helps to slow down the gluten development which makes for a more tender and flaky crust. Since they probably tested a hundred pie dough recipes to come to these dramatic conclusions, I will take them at face value.

The crust is everything a crust should be- flaky, buttery, crisp, and light. Best of all, it’s easy to roll and comes together in your handy food processor. It really is the perfect crust and I hope these pictures and the recipe will help you with your own pie crust making for the holidays.

How Do You Blind Bake a Pie Crust?

There is nothing worse than a mushy crust on a pie. There is really no sense in going to all of the trouble of making a great crust, if it isn’t cooked correctly.  To blind bake the crust, simply line the crust with a double layer of tin foil and fill it with pie weights. You can buy pie weights, use pennies, or use a bag of dried beans (as I have shown above).   If you use the beans, place them in a zippered bag and label your bag that these are pie weights so you don’t accidentally use them in your recipes.

Bake until the pie dough looks dry and is light in color, 25-30 minutes. Transfer the pie plate to a wire rack and remove the weights and foil.

See you tomorrow with a delicious recipe for Pumpkin Pie that you won’t want to miss! Of course, you can follow all of my shenanigans in the kitchen on Instagram (follow me here). I am quite addicted and love new friends! Be sure to also check out my 7 easy Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Appetizer Recipes and Make-Ahead Thanksgiving Side Dish Recipes (even those mashed potatoes!) Stay tuned for more posts on my pumpkin pie and some fun ways to fancy up those store-bought pies!

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