The first time I read the ingredients and instructions for making shortbread crust for a pie, I had serious doubts about its possible success. Like most pie crust recipes, the shortbread crust recipe has just a few ingredients, five to be exact: flour, sugar, salt, butter, and egg yolk. The proportions did not seem to be very “wet” at all; what would make this crust stick together?
Shortbread crust was a different type of pie crust from the “regular” recipe I usually make. The ingredients mix up sort of powdery. It doesn’t form a ball; it’s not really a dough. It is not rolled out, but instead the mixture is gently pressed into place in the pie pan.
The recipe calls for setting aside 1/4 of the crumbles for topping the pie. That’s also a very nice feature on a finished pie.
Like all pie pastry, this recipe requires patience, and, in this case, a bit of adventure when dealing with the unexpected. The technique is really not all that difficult, and the resulting pie crust is wonderful.
My adaptation of the recipe is a little bit wetter and a little bit easier to handle. Plus it makes enough shortbread crust for 2 pies.
Shortbread Crust
2.5 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 salt
1 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into pieces
3 egg yolks, beaten to blendBlend flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Add butter pieces and cut in with pastry cutter until a coarse mixture forms. Drizzle yolks over surface and mix with a fork until crumbs form. Do not form into a ball. Pat 3/4 of the mixture over the bottom and up the sides of a 9 inch pie pie. You could use a tart pan; I never do.
My two favorite fillings so far are apples or peaches. Watch for both of those recipes to come.