pie

This pie crust comes from The Family Table, a collection of treasured family recipes from the Smollett siblings. Try it in their Cast-Iron Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie recipe or with your favorite filling.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for handling the dough
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ½ pound (2 sticks) cold, salted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons ice-cold water

Yield

Serves: Makes enough dough for two 9-inch single crust pies or 1 double crust pie

Preparation

Mix together the flour and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and use your hands to press and pinch the flour mixture into the butter, working until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal (we learned to make pie crust by hand, but you can also use a food processor if you prefer!). Add the vanilla and 1 tablespoon of the cold water and fold the dough together using a rubber spatula. Continue to add the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough just holds together.

Divide the dough in half and form it into two discs, dusting it with a bit of flour if it sticks when you work with it. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 2 hours before using or up to 3 days. Wrapped well, they can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Excerpt from The Family Table: Recipes and Moments from a Nomadic Life by Jazz Smollett-Warwell, Jake Smollett, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and Jussie Smollett. Copyright © 2018 by Jazz Smollett-Warwell, Jake Smollett, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, and Jussie Smollett. Used with permission by HarperCollins Publisher. All rights reserved.