This is a delicious pie crust that’s just a bit different from your traditional pie crust, but every bit as simple.  It’s a recipe my Mother brought to me and asked me to try it and see what I thought.  Well I tried it and loved it!  She didn’t remember where it came from, but was in a stack of recipes she’s collected over the years.  I will absolutely be using this crust for many pies in my future!

So far I have used this Pecan Pie Crust for my Pumpkin Pear Butter Pie.  It is a wonderful marriage that just adds a bit of nuttiness to your life.  I don’t always have time, but if you have an extra few minutes and want to enhance the nuttiness of the pecans, roast them in a preheated 300 degree oven for 8 minutes, then chop them up.  It’s not necessary, just adds a nice depth of flavor to the pecans.

This recipe makes 2 crusts, so even if you’re only making one pie, you can freeze the other half for a future pie down the road.

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Here’s how I make it.

Pecan Pie Crust

In a medium size mixing bowl, combine the all purpose flour, 10X powdered sugar and salt with a fork.  Then add the vegetable shortening.

Using the fork or a pastry blender, cut the vegetable into the flour mixture until there are small crumbs throughout.

Stir in the chopped pecans.  You’ll want these pecans to be chopped finely to almost powdery.  I do leave some a little larger just because I like the flavor when I bite into one.

Then add 1 Tablespoon of cold water at a time and incorporate with the fork.  The amount of water will vary each time just because when we measure flour, it will vary a bit each time we make the crust.  On average it will take about 5-6 Tablespoons to bring this together into a moist dough.

Tip: If you add a little too much water and it gets too sticky to handle, add 1 Tablespoon of all purpose flour back into the dough.

Key to a flaky crust is to not over work it.  When it starts to come together into a ball, just gently form a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.  This just makes it roll out better and makes it less sticky to work with.

When you’re ready to roll into a pie crust, cut the dough in half.

Tip:  If you only need one pie crust, wrap the other half in plastic wrap then put it into a freezer zip top baggie and freeze until next time.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into about an 11″-12″ circle, depending on the size of your pie plate.  Carefully lay it into the pie plate.

At this point, there’s lots you can do to make the edge look pretty.  You can take the excess and fold it under and using your fingers, make a pretty design.  You can cut off the excess as you see here by just following the edge of the pie plate, then use a fork to crimp the edge all the way around.

If truth be told, I have cut it off as you see here and didn’t even use a fork to crimp.  Just left if plain.  It’s all a matter of preference and presentation.

Now you’re ready to fill with your favorite pie filling and bake.

If you’re needing to bake the pie crust first then fill, lay a piece of parchment paper on the crust, fill with one pound of dried pinto beans and bake it in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes until it’s a light golden brown.  The weight of the dried beans help keep the crust from bubbling up as it’s baking.

For my personal favorite traditional crust that I use for so many things, check out my Mother’s Pie Crust recipe:

This is the Pumpkin Pear Butter Pie that I use this pecan pie crust for.  Just click on the link or the picture for the recipe! Oh so delicious!

What fillings would you put in this Pecan Pie Crust?  I’m thinking Pecan Pie would be a good one!

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Here’s the printer friendly recipe.