Want to make a pastry crust for your own apple pie? Here is the recipe the Hanson family uses for their pies!

Pastry for Double-crust pie

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup shortening or lard
6-8 tablespoons cold water

Directions
Stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortening or lard* until pieces are about the size of small peas. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of water over the mixture at a time and gently toss together. After all water is added, form dough into two equally sized balls. Roll them out on a floured surface to the size that fits your pie pan.

Remember not to handle your crust too much! The more you handle it, the more it heats up. When the dough heats up, the shortening or lard melts and makes it impossible to have a flaky, perfect crust. Small shortening or lard chunks in your crust melt where they are in the oven while baking and create little air pockets. This is what makes your pie crust flaky and delicious.

*HINT: Are you ever frustrated trying to make sure you measure items such as shortening or lard properly? Just use the water displacement method! Get a 2 cup measuring container and fill it to the 1 cup line with water AND ice. This water will also be the perfect temperature to use in the dough! After this, to get 2/3 cup of it, spoon your shortening or lard into the container until it reaches the 1 and 2/3 cup line. Your measuring will be spot on. Then simply spoon it into your dry mixture. It’s as simple as that!

– Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens “New Cook Book”