Try a Little Tendercrust

Saucyman – My last piecrust was a sodden in the dish, leaden on the tongue disaster. It came from the frozen food section of the store and it was still about 10 times better than the previous one I attempted to make. With Thanksgiving around the corner do have any advice for a more perfect pie? – Crustworthy

Butter! The word alone invokes the promise of rich, handmade goodness. It melts in the mouth, quite literally at 85-90°f, dissolving on the tongue. Vegetable shortening and margarine - often substituted or combined with butter in pie recipes, doesn’t begin to melt until the 110°f range, leaves the mouth coated with a thin layer of emulsified soybean fat instead of having your taste buds warmed by what Seamus Heaney calls ‘coagulated sunshine’*.

Historically, I have favored an all-butter crust. Butter! is troublesome to work with: Completely chilled, butter is brittle - Warming butter to a point where it can be easily rolled out affects the finished texture . As of late, I have fallen in love with cream cheese crusts. About half the cost of butter, cream cheese accomplishes the same objectives as shortening – making dough easier to roll out the crust without adding the plastic/processed tasting-doesn’t-melt-in-the-mouth shortening to the recipe. In addition to the cost, flavor and ease of use, cream cheese has another benefit for the occasional baker – less water. Quick refresher, when combined with flour, water makes gluten – great in chewy bread, not so cool in pastry – According to baking professionals – an extra tablespoon of water in pie crust can make the crust too tough, cream cheese helps control the amount of water needed to roll out the dough.

So if cream cheese is all that, why not use it all pie recipes? While butter produces a flaky crust, the following recipe produces a tender crust. Flaky and tender are used somewhat synonymously – they aren’t the same thing – one isn’t better or worse. Biscuits are tender; puff pastry is flaky: biscuits aren’t better than puff pastry, they are only different.

A piecrust baked with a custardy pumpkin, rich pecan filling or filled with baked apples, it doesn’t matter whether your crust is tender or flaky only that it is good. This cream cheese recipe produces a good crust and an easy crust for the occasional baker.

Tender Pie Crust (One 9 inch pie)

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
1 stick; 4 oz cold butter (cut into a dozen + pieces)
3 oz cold cream cheese (cut into 6-8 pieces)
pinch of salt

1 teaspoon cider vinegar ‡
2 tablespoons vodka §

Add dry ingredients, butter and cream cheese into a food processor and pulse together. (Or work together in a bowl). The end result should be a crumb like texture – the fat coated by flour.

Transfer contents to a Ziploc-like plastic bag. Add liquids. Squeeze the ingredients together in plastic bag until they form a rudimentary ball. Let dough rest/chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes & up to 3 days.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface just like any other piecrust. Line 9-inch pie tin with crust and place in freeze for 10 minutes. Fill and bake as per usual.

‡ Vinegar helps tenderize the crust. Acids also inhibit browning. An 1/8 of a teaspoon of baking powder will neutralize the acid. A glass/pyrex pie dish will encourage even browning. I’d choose the proper equipment over a chemical fix.

§ Vodka being roughly 50% alcohol; dissolves during cooking. Ice water can be substituted.

*Despite what you have heard about Nobel Awards vis-à-vis Obama’s Peace Prize, they really don’t hand those things out, coagulated sunshine, Go Seamus.