Streusel-Topped Peach Blueberry Pie

Upper right: Toll House Cookie Pie & lower right: Coconut Pie

Things that really matter are the things that gold can't buy. 

So let's have another cup o' coffee and let's have another piece o' pie. 

Irving Berlin

I was in charge of organizing the pie portion of a fundraiser for my Stafford PEO group. I had ordered plastic containers for individual pieces of pie, but I felt like I needed to make a pie and experiment with how best to cut it to fit in the containers.

Randy was a big fan of the experimentation. The pies I made later in the week were carted out the kitchen door to our PEO Potatoes and Pie fundraiser at the First Friday event at the Nora Larabee Memorial Library in Stafford. PEO was raising money for our local scholarship, given each year to a senior girl at Stafford High School. It was also a way for our PEO members to get involved in a fun community event. Community service is always a good thing!

The containers worked well, though we also used a piece of tape to make sure the lids stayed close. I used under-the-bed plastic storage containers to display the pies and make them easier to transport from the church kitchen (where we cut each pie into eight pieces) and the library, where we served. This was the only photo I took all evening (not very impressive, but I guess I was busy).  The photo just shows a portion of the pies. I stacked them two high in two long containers, and I labeled each pie piece so customers could easily identify them.

Though I made a Coconut Pie and a Toll House Cookie Pie for the actual event, this Streusel-Topped Peach Blueberry Pie was a hit at our house, and it will go in the recipe files for another time. For my experiment, I wanted a crumb-topped pie since my pie crust recipe makes three crusts, and I needed two for later in the week. And it used two fruits that are abundant this time of year. Bonus!

I love a streusel-topped pie with ice cream anyway! Unfortunately, 100-degree temperatures meant that we didn't top our pies with ice cream at the First Friday event. But it sure didn't stop us at home.

If you give it a try, let me know what you think!

Streusel-Topped Peach Blueberry Pie

Recipe adapted from Pillsbury.com

 

1 unbaked pie shell **

 

Filling

3 cups peeled, sliced fresh peaches

1 cup fresh blueberries

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

 

Streusel Topping

3/4 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/3 cup cold butter

 

** I always use my sister, Lisa's, Never Fail Pie Crust. Click HERE for that recipe. It makes 3 crusts total. (You can use for 3 single crusts or use for 1 double-crusted pie and a single pie.)

Place pie crust in a 9-inch pie pan. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl, mix all filling ingredients. Spoon into crust-lined pie plate.

In medium bowl, mix topping ingredients with fork or pastry blender until crumbly. Sprinkle over filling.

Place pie shields over the crust. (I use silicone pie shields.) Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until topping is golden brown. Cool on cooling rack for at least 2 hours before cutting and serving.

 

Note: You may use frozen fruit. However, make sure the fruit is thawed and well-drained.

Serves 8. 

***

NOTE: I am sure I will write about the farm sale at some point, but we are still in the midst of the business of finishing up things. We have another day of running around for business today. We'll see how the rest of the week goes and how I feel. (Right now, I'm tired!) It was a good day. We had a great sale with a big crowd, our family was here and the kids hosted a reception after the sale. For the record, I didn't make a single cookie ... or anything else. We are blessed!

 

Singing the Blues

At my house, you just might have to talk until you're blue in the face to actually get pie. But, Randy seems to think it's worth the wait to get a pie once every blue moon.

I made him a pie for our wedding anniversary. Nothing says "love" to him like blueberry pie. I made him a two-crust blueberry pie for Valentine's Day. My Never Fail Pie Crust recipe makes three crusts, so I stuck the other one in the freezer.

I've never made an "open-faced" blueberry pie before. But there was a perfectly good pie crust in the freezer leftover from the February pie-baking adventure, so I decided if I could a crumb topping for apple pie, surely it would taste just as good with blueberries.

In our 32 years of marriage, Randy has been on the receiving end of kitchen experiments a time or two. This experiment turned out better than some he's experienced in three decades of recipes.

Crumb-Topped Blueberry Pie

For 8-inch pie:
1 prepared pie crust (Click here for Never Fail Pie Crust Recipe)
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 cups fresh blueberries (or substitute frozen - partially thawed)
1 tsp. lemon juice
Crumb Topping (see below)

For 9-inch pie:
1 prepared pie crust
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tbsp. lemon juice

Crumb Topping:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, slightly softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare one pie crust, fitting it into the pan and fluting it around the edges.

Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon. Stir in blueberries. Turn into pastry-lined pie plate. Sprinkle with lemon juice.

Mix together topping ingredients using a pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly and butter is evenly distributed among the dry ingredients. Put crumb topping evenly over the blueberries, spreading to the crust.

Cover the pie crust with pie shields. Bake for 20 minutes, then cover with aluminum foil and bake an additional 30 minutes. The foil is needed so that the crumb topping doesn't get overly browned. Bake until the filling begins to bubble up through the crumb crust and the crumbs are nicely golden brown (though not over brown).

Remove from oven to a wire rack. Remove the pie shields from the crust. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream, if desired.

***

I'm linked today to What's in Your Kitchen Wednesday on Wichita blogger Ashley's Kitchen Meets Girl: Successes from the Kitchen of a Reluctant Cook. Join me in checking out what's cooking in kitchens elsewhere!

I'll Take Pie, Not Pi

I'm not a mathematician. So Pi Day has never excited me. (For you people who like your math, Pi Day is March 14 or 3.14)

When you Google "Pie" Day, it's "Pi" Day that comes up for the first few entries on the list. Last week, a Facebook friend said that January 23 is PIE Day. Like me, she knew about the math celebration, but not the PIE party, until she wrote a feature article about pie. (How can I get writing jobs like that?)

But after I typed in "baking a pie day," I found a website devoted to pie. The American Pie Council has indeed dubbed January 23rd as National Pie Day:

Why is National Pie Day celebrated on January 23 or 1/23? Because celebrating the wholesome goodness of pie is as easy as 1-2-3.

I'm not sure I agree with that slogan, but I've had a pie photo and recipe rattling around, just ready to be shared. So what better day than National Pie Day?

The American Pie Council is "an organization committed to preserving America's pie heritage and promoting America's love affair with pies. Designed to raise awareness, enjoyment and consumption of pies, the APC offers amateur, professional and commercial memberships."

I think Randy would be thrilled if I would join. I don't make pie nearly as often as he'd like.

According to the APC website, pie has been around since the ancient Egyptians. The first pies were made by early Romans. Meat - not fruit - was the mainstay of early pies. Fruit pies have been around since the 1500s, when English tradition credits the first cherry pie to Queen Elizabeth I. Pie came to America with the first English settlers. And now the dessert is "as American as apple pie."

I made a Toll House Cookie Pie for our church's Sweet Tooth Auction last year. This pie is one of Brent's favorites, since he's not a fruit pie person. As pies go, it really is easy to put together.

Toll House Chocolate Chip Pie

1 unbaked 9-inch (4 cup volume) deep-dish pie shell
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened (no substitutes)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped nuts (I usually use pecans)
Whipped cream or ice cream (opt.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour and both sugars. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell. Put pie shields on crust to prevent overbrowning.

Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. (If the top looks too brown before the center is set, cover whole pie with foil to prevent overbrowning.)

Cool on wire rack. Serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.

If fruit pie is more to your liking, try this recipe for Blueberry Pie. (You can use frozen berries.) It has step-by-step photos for making and rolling out your pie dough.

And the American Pie Council has a link to pie recipes. So go ahead: Celebrate Pie Day. It will be tastier than Pi Day.

**

I'm linked to Two Maids a Baking. Check them out!

Truth in Advertising

"Nobody has to make a whole pie."

Perhaps it seems a bit misleading for an apple pie making day to be "advertised" in that manner. After all, why have an apple pie day if not to make apple pies?

Truth is, nobody has to make an apple pie alone. Bazaar workdays illustrate the maxim: "Many hands make light work."

Previous pie making experience is not required. And here is the proof.

Randy sliced and diced and visited with the best of 'em. (That will teach him to come to the church to do his treasurer's duty on apple pie day.)

It was poetic justice, in a way. Since Stafford UMC is his childhood church, he's eaten his share of UMW Apple Pies though the years. His mom was a mover and shaker when it came to bazaar doings. He seemed to become the mascot for the ladies peeling apples.

Fellowship Hall is aptly named on apple pie making day. The conservation flows as freely as discarded apple peels from 3 bushels of apples.

There are stations for all the needed steps: apple peeling, apple chopping, cinnamon-sugar application and butter dotting.

There's the pie crust mixer, the pie crust rollers and the finishing crew.

I think I was assigned nearly every job that day. So what does that say? I choose to believe it's because of my versatility. (But maybe they were desperately searching for a job I couldn't mess up too badly.)

After all, I was the least experienced person there (if you don't count Randy).

Then there were the pros like Ellen. She's made a pie or two in her 87 years.

So come buy a pie. Or buy some pints of apple butter. Or buy some of the cookies, quick breads, cinnamon rolls and crescent rolls I've spent the last three days baking. The bazaar is from 9 AM to 2 PM Saturday, November 12, at the church basement.

These ladies know how to make chicken and noodles, too.

Easy As Pie

Easy as pie? Really? Did the genius who first coined the phrase ever make a pie?

A piece of cake? Well, unless I'm making a three-layer frosted monstrosity, I'd have to say cake is easier.

Easy as cookies? Now we're getting warmer.

But easy as pie? I beg to differ.

With Christmas just a few days away, it's pie baking time across America once again. And, if you're going to go to the trouble of making a pie, I say, make it a good one.

My Grandma Leonard's Pumpkin Pie is the best pumpkin pie I've ever had. Randy's sister, who grew up on a different pumpkin pie, is one of my converts, so it must be true.

My pie baking skills have improved with age. Both my grandmas made good pies. I didn't get that interested in making them until Jill was in 4-H cooking. There's nothing like 4-H cooking to teach parents a thing or two.

The Coconut Pie is one that my Mom always made at Thanksgiving. We use the same recipe for Coconut or Pecan Pies. The coconut version seems to be a bit more unusual. I've never seen anyone else bring this kind of Coconut Pie to a gathering, though the Fritzemeier clan is known for Coconut Cream Pie. (I still haven't mastered that art: Randy would just contend I need to practice more.)

If pie baking is on your agenda this week, here are a couple of tried-and-true recipes. And, if you need a review on making crust, check out the link to my sister's recipe for Never Fail Pie Crust, complete with step-by-step photos.

It'll be easy as pie ... really.

Pumpkin Pie

1 can solid pack pumpkin (15 oz.)
1 tbsp. butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
Dash of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 pie crust, unbaked (see recipe for Never Fail Pie Crust)

Combine pumpkin, butter, brown sugar, spices and a dash of salt in a medium saucepan. Heat on stove, cooking and stirring for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Combine 2 eggs and evaporated milk in a separate bowl, mixing until well blended. Add a dollop of the warm pumpkin mixture to the egg mixture and mix well. Add the egg mixture to the rest of the pumpkin. Mix well.

Pour pumpkin pie mix into a prepared pie shell. Cover crimped crusts with pie shields to avoid overbrowning. Bake at 400 degrees for about 50 minutes or when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.

If desired, roll out leftover pie dough and use a cookie cutter to make an appropriate shape (pumpkin or turkey for Thanksgiving or a bell, star or tree for Christmas, etc.) Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture and bake until lightly golden brown. Cool. Use to decorate the top of the pie, just before serving.

***

Coconut Pie (or Pecan Pie)

1 unbaked pie shell
1 cup shredded coconut (or pecan halves)
3 eggs
3 tbsp. butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup white corn syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla

Sprinkle coconut into the bottom of the pie shell. Beat eggs. Add all other ingredients, blending well. Pour over coconut (or nuts). Cover crimped crusts with pie shields to avoid overbrowning. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes. (If I think it's getting too brown on the top, I may shield the whole pie with aluminum foil until the center appears fairly set.)

Oh My! Pie!

Pie isn't exactly known for its health benefits. Of course, there sometimes is fruit involved. (Minor detail: The fruit is usually doused in sugar.)

So what could make pie even more nutritionally challenged? How about frying it?

It's not even state fair time yet, but we found the mecca for fried pies on our weekend trip to Oklahoma.

We went to Oklahoma City for a wedding on Saturday. But we were able to leave a day early for an extra day of fun in the sun. At Exit 51, 75 miles south of Oklahoma City, we stopped for ice before heading to Turner Falls (more on that tomorrow.)

With the giant old Sinclair dinosaur on top of the building, we just figured it was like any old convenience store, cozying up to a tourist attraction.

While gas, pop and ice were definitely big sellers, they couldn't hold a candle to the real attraction at Exit 51 - fried pies.

We avoided temptation before going to Turner Falls. But Randy couldn't resist stopping there again as we headed back to Oklahoma City.

Arbuckle Mountain Pies makes and sells 2,900 fried pies a day. That's more pies than the population of Davis, Oklahoma, the closest town (Population 2,665).

They sell pies for breakfast, lunch and dinner and have the flavors to attract customers at any time of the day.


We bought a peach pie and shared it like we usually share desserts: I ate 1/4 of it and Randy ate 3/4.


Nancy, the Fried Pie Lady, uses her grandmother's secret recipe for the sweet treats. The recipe has been in the family since 1893, when Nancy's grandma made pies for cowboys caring for cattle during a cold Oklahoma winter.

More than cowboys like the pies now. People were literally carrying boxes of pies out the door. They are cheaper by the dozen, you know. (And, no, we didn't test that theory!)

Sweet As Pie

I probably learned as much as a 4-H parent as I did as a 4-Her. Until Jill started experimenting with pies for fair baking, I was more likely to use a Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust than make my own.

It's not as if I didn't have some pie baking in my background. Both my grandmothers were good pie bakers. My Grandma Neelly's green apple pie was my favorite summer time pie. My Grandma Leonard's pumpkin pie was my fall pastry of choice.

When Jill started baking pies for the county fair, I learned right along with her. First step was finding a good pie crust recipe. After several false starts, I called my sister, Lisa, who was already proficient at pie baking.

Her Never Fail Pie Crust recipe lives up to the name.

Purchasing a pastry cloth was another step in making pie baking easier. I don't usually use the "stockinet" that came with it on my rolling pin. But rolling out the pie dough on a lightly-floured pastry cloth instead of on a counter or between sheets of waxed paper has definitely streamlined the process for me. It was worth the investment of a few dollars for a pastry cloth.

Still, I don't make pie as often as my husband would like. With the lower price of blueberries in the grocery store, it was time to fulfill my promise to my husband that he would get his favorite pie.

A blueberry pie is super easy, compared to making an apple pie and having to peel, core and slice all the fruit. It's also easier than a peach pie, when you have to blanch the fruit to remove the peels and then slice.

So, here's my version of Blueberry Pie:

Blueberry Pie

Pastry for 9-inch two-crust pie (See Never Fail Pie Crust below)
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
4 cups fresh blueberries
1 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. margarine or butter

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry. Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon. Combine blueberries and lemon juice. Add dry mixture to blueberries and toss lightly. Pour blueberry mixture into pastry-lined pie plate. Dot with margarine or butter. Cover with top crust that has slits cut into it (or use a small cookie cutter to make a design.) Seal and flute the crust.

Cover edge with foil shields. Bake until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust, 35 to 45 minutes, depending on your oven.

Since fresh blueberries are not always available, you may substitute unsweetened frozen blueberries, partially thawed, for the fresh blueberries. (One 12-ounce package yields 2 1/2 cups.)

Never Fail Pie Crust

3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups shortening
5 tbsp. water
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 egg, beaten

Stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until well blended. Stir together water, vinegar and beaten egg. Add to flour mixture. Stir with a fork until a dough starts to form and pulls away from the side of the bowl. You may need to use your hands to help form it into a ball. Divide into thirds, as this recipe makes 3 crusts (enough for a 2-crusted pie and one single crust. I usually just put the extra crust in the freezer to use later for a one-crust pie.)

STEP BY STEP - A Photo Essay for Homemade Pie

Combine the dry ingredients for the pie dough (flour and salt). Note: I use Hudson Cream flour in all my baking. It has been milled at the Stafford County Flour Mills in Hudson for the past 106 years.

Combine the wet ingredients for the pie dough (beaten egg, water and vinegar).

Cut in the shortening with a pastry blender ...


... until shortening is well distributed.


Add the wet ingredients and stir with a fork. As the two combine, the dough will start to pull away from the sides of the bowl.


Use your hands to form dough into a ball. Cut into thirds. Form each part into a ball.

Put a one-third ball of the dough on a flour-dusted pastry cloth and press down to form a circle.


Using a floured rolling pin, keep rolling in different directions to retain the round shape.

Roll out the pie crust dough until it is about 2 inches larger than the inverted pie pan.


Fold the pie crust into quarters.


Put the dough into the pie plate and unfold to cover the pie tin.


Put the blueberry mixture into the bottom crust.


Dot with butter.


Roll out the top crust, using the same procedure as before. Put on top of blueberries.


Trim overhanging edge of pastry 1 inches from rim of plate. Fold and roll top edge under lower edge, pressing on rim to seal. The judge at the Hudson Cream Flour Bakeoff suggested putting ice cold water on the bottom crust to make a seal between the top and bottom crust - kind of like glue.

Flute the edges. I place my index finger on the inside of the pastry rim, thumb and index finger on the outside, and pinch the pastry into a v-shape. (I missed that step in the photos - sorry!)


Using a mini cookie cutter, remove a portion of the top crust so the pie is vented. (Some people just cut slits in the top crust. That is fine, too. I've seen people make slits that look like a wheat stalk. I'm just not that artistic!)

Use foil pie shields to cover your pie crust. This prevents overbrowning.


I have tried a circular, metal pie shield, but they never seem to fit the pan correctly.

Bake as directed, until crust is golden brown and filling starts to bubble, about 35 to 45 minutes, depending upon your oven. Remove from oven and put on wire rack to cool.

Once the pie is fairly cool, it's ready to serve. (You can serve it hot, but the filling won't hold together as well). Top with ice cream, if desired. Enjoy!

****

Because you've trimmed the extra pie dough from the edges of your pan, you can use the excess for a cinnamon-sugar topped treat.


Just roll out the leftover dough and put on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

This is one of my favorite memories of baking with my Grandma Neelly. We even had a miniature rolling pin that we could use to roll out the extra dough.

Just bake until the crust is golden brown.

Break into pieces and enjoy (if you can do it without thinking about the calories)!

The Thrill of Victory

I had a prize-winning pie at the Stafford County Fair last week. And to think, I almost didn't even take it to get judged.

I am my own worst critic (just ask my family). I made two Cherry Berry Pies last Friday evening. One, I intended to take to the Stafford County Fair's Hudson Cream Flour Bakeoff on Saturday morning.

The other, I made because my husband said, with puppy-dog eyes and with a pleading voice, "Do I get a pie, too?"

My pie crust recipe makes three pie crusts. I had just made him a blueberry pie (I've even written a post about the blueberry pie, but I've had so many other timely things to write about, I haven't posted it yet). So it's not like he's been deprived.

But I really don't make pie that often. And he's a pretty good guy. So I made another pie for him. It just wasn't the picture-perfect version.

I had stashed my extra pie crust from the blueberry pie baking day in the freezer. That one was already fluted and ready for use as a one-crust pie. But instead, I used it along with the extra pie crust from my Hudson Cream Flour Bakeoff baking session.

It's hard to seal an already-crimped crust with a new one on top. So it boiled over and the filling just didn't set up that well.

I had already experienced the agony of defeat with my bread baking endeavor for the same bakeoff (Read about that tomorrow: I had to post the Thrill of Victory first. Don't you remember Saturday afternoon and ABC's Wide World of Sports? The tagline was "The thrill of victory, the agony of defeat. But, as usual, I digress ...)

This was not the first time I had spent an evening baking for the Hudson Cream Flour Bakeoff ... and then decided nothing was "good enough" to take. I am the queen of that. In fact, I told Randy Friday night, "PLEASE remind me not to do this next year."

But, Saturday morning, I woke up, and I looked at the pie again. Looking through the strawberry-shaped vent hole, I thought to myself, "Well, it looks like it's set up."

So with trepidation, I took my pie to the fair.

Al Brensing, who IS Hudson Cream Flour, was there when I entered it.

"That looks really good," he said.

I told him, "Well, we'll see if the filling holds up when the judge cuts it."

And it did! She said that it probably was on the verge of being "overfull" and I was "teetering with disaster." But, since I averted disaster, it was a pretty good pie. She complimented the "melding" of the three berries, but also noted she could taste each one.

It was good enough to earn me second place in her eyes. It was second to Sharon, who is a champion pie baker, bread maker and all-around great cook, so that was good enough for me.

The winners: Brianna McNickle (one of my 4-H foods and nutrition kids!), 3rd with an apple pie; Sharon Allen, 1st, with a fresh apricot pie; me, 2nd; Jim Sellers, 4th with an apple cranberry pie.

The Stafford County Commissioners also get to choose their favorite pie. And they chose my Cherry Berry Pie! The pie I almost didn't bring earned me $30 bucks - $15 from the commissioners and $15 from Stafford County Flour Mills, the maker of Hudson Cream Flour (the best flour of all time, really and truly. I'm not just saying that because they paid me $15!)

Well, I earned $30 if you don't count all the money I spent enlarging and matting photos for the open class photo show ... and if you don't count all the ingredients that went into the pies.

OK. Maybe I didn't really make $30. But my prize-winning pie helped me so I didn't end up quite so far in the hole.

And, as Randy says, it's good to exhibit in the local fair. You want people to have something to look at when they come to visit.

Wait ... maybe, he just wants another pie.

Cherry Berry Pie
(From Taste of Home magazine with a few variations)

2 cups tart cherries, pitted (I used canned)
2 cups fresh blueberries
1 cup chopped fresh strawberries (I did chop them fairly fine)
3/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. almond extract
Dash salt
2 tbsp. butter
Pastry for double crust pie
A little milk
A little sugar

In a large bowl, combine cherries, blueberries and chopped strawberries. Add lemon juice and almond extract. Combine sugar, salt and cornstarch, mixing very well. Add to fruit mixture. Line a 9-inch pie plate with bottom crust. Fill with fruit mixture and dot with butter.

Top with remaining pastry. Trim, seal and flute edges. Use a miniature cookie cutter to make a vent hole or just put vent slashes in the top crust with a knife. With a pastry brush, lightly brush top crust with milk. Sprinkle with sugar.

Shield crust edges with foil guards. Bake at 400 degrees for 45 to 55 minutes or until crust is light brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on wire rack. Yield: 8 servings.

Never Fail Pie Crust

3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups shortening
5 tbsp. water
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 egg, beaten

Stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until well blended. Stir together water, vinegar and beaten egg. Add to flour mixture. Stir with a fork until a dough starts to form and pulls away from the side of the bowl. You may need to use your hands to help form it into a ball. Divide into thirds, as this recipe makes 3 crusts (enough for a 2-crusted pie and one single crust. I usually just put the extra crust in the freezer to use later for a one-crust pie.)

Enjoy!