Grandma's Perfect Pie Crust

I don't know about you, but I tend to think of pie crust as a pain in the butt. When I first read recipes for it I was daunted by the instructions and warnings about keeping the butter/shortening cold, using ice water, and keeping the crust perfectly cold the whole time. What a lot of work! So I was mildly surprised when I ran across my grandmother's recipe neatly written on a card. There was no mention of butter or shortening or ice water. In fact it uses oil and milk, which I thought couldn't possibly work. So I tried it out and it makes the most easy, lightweight flaky crust I've ever eaten. I documented my last go of it here:

Simply mix together in a bowl:
2 Cups Flour
dash of sugar
dash of salt
2/3 Cup of Oil - I use Safflower, but another light tasting oil would work just as well.
1/3 Cup of Milk

I use a spoon to mix it all together. I've tried a pastry cutter before, but it tends to get all gummed up and doesn't work as well.

Next, roll it between 2 sheets of wax paper. It usually ends up bigger than the wax paper, so I just tear off those extra bits and put them aside for later.

Then I take off one of the sheets of waxed paper and place the pie crust into the pie dish. I can position it and push it down into the pie dish before I remove the 2nd sheet. I take the 2nd sheet off very carefully making sure to keep the pie crust in place. It doesn't really matter if the crust tears or has holes because those can be patched with the extra crust from around the edges.

I tear off the extra bits of pie crust around the edges, patch any holes, then go around the edges shaping the dough edge with my fingers. It's very fun. Then I fill it with my favorite pie filling. This happens to be a Dutch Apple Pie, made with apples from our CSA box!

Mmm...Hot Apple pie out of oven! It's perfect on its own or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The crust comes out nice and flaky and perfect. It makes me so happy!

And this is what you do with the leftover pie crust! Simply add jelly between two pieces and instant mini pies! I used Oregon Marionberry Jam from Costco. So tasty too! I can say all desserts were well received and disappeared all too quickly!