Lars, I am going to have to try that one... too interesting not to, lol.. I buy cottage cheese to have on hand for a childhood comfort food of spaghetti and cottage cheese, so next time I'll buy a large container and try it. I'll report back. I like the Nathans crust, and that perfect butter crust that Terri posted is about what I usually do. I don't usually use a recipe since I've made so many pies, often in large numbers. That crust that uses 5#'s of flour is a good one too. I love oatmeal so I'm going to have to try Ann's Maple Oat one too. We picked up a bunch of apples today at the heritage farm, and I think that would be good with them. Thanks for posting it Terri. The only one I don't care for is the one that uses vodka. I've tried it a couple times and just didn't care for it. Didn't care for the taste and texture could have been better. I drink vodka, so the taste shouldn't have been a problem, lol. I do better winging it.. smiles. Those pie crust pinwheels were made with the last of that crust I had frozen. I didn't even like it used as that but luckily Christy liked them. Wasn't my technique, since I have no trouble with a light hand anyplace else, plus I made it twice, had to give it a good chance. But, hey, that's what this place is about. Not everyone will like every recipe.

I debated on whether to add this since it is long. It was submitted by Marys1000 back in Oct '08. Don't know which forum. But it was a lot of fun to read and you might enjoy it: Here is an article I found very informative in my search for info on pie crusts. She spent a lot of time actually baking with lard, oils, goose fat, and even suet. November 15, 2006 Heaven in a Pie Pan: The Perfect Crust By MELISSA CLARK A FEW years ago, I achieved perfection in a pie crust and it smelled like pig. Not in a muddy, barnyard way, but with a very subtly meaty, nutty aroma. Carefully confected with part butter and part freshly rendered lard, this pie pastry was everything baking-book authors and bloggers wax poetic about: a golden-brown-around-the-edges epiphany richly flavored and just salty enough to contrast with the sweet apple filling, the texture as flaky as a croissant but still crisp. It shattered when you bit it, then melted instantly on the tongue. The only problem with my masterpiece, I told my guests as they licked the crumbs off their plates, was that I was never, ever going to make it again. Because what they didnt see was the outsize effort that went into acquiring and preparing the not-so-secret ingredient: leaf lard, the creamy white fat that surrounds a hogs kidneys. The veritable ne plus ultra of pig fat, its far superior to supermarket lard, which is heavily processed stuff that can have an off taste. But leaf lard is hard to track down (I special-ordered it from a friendly butcher) and a headache once you get it. Step one: pick out any bloody bits and sinews, chop the fat into pieces, and render it slowly in a double boiler for eight hours. At the end of the day, be prepared for a kitchen that smells like breakfast at a highway diner, and a pan full of dangerously molten fat crowned with cracklings. The leaf lard may have made great crust, but, like homemade cassoulet and puff pastry, this was a culinary Everest I felt no need to climb twice. Everest became a lot more manageable when I discovered that rendered leaf lard was available at the Flying Pigs Farm stand at the Union Square and Grand Army Plaza Greenmarkets on Saturday and by mail order. With this convenience at hand, I decided to have a pre-Thanksgiving pie crust baking binge to see whether, with the prep times and mess not being a factor, lard pastry was really the best when tested next to my favorite standby, an all-butter crust. Or was my memory of the lard pie crusts sublimity simply a hallucination caused by long hours of porcine toil? And while the kitchen was a floury mess anyway, why not test a variety of other fats to see how they affected the flakiness and flavor of the final crust? With fat as my variable, I decided to keep all the other ingredients in the crust as straightforward as possible. That ruled out using a mix of flours with different protein levels (like bread flour, cake flour and Wondra). For this pie, I went with all-purpose all the way. But before I started baking, I did some research in the pie crust recipe canon. Most crusts were a combination of shortening and butter, or all butter, so I started there. I first made five crusts: all-butter; all-shortening (I used the trans fat-free kind now on the market); 50-50 butter and shortening; 70 percent butter to 30 percent shortening; and vice versa. Crisp, flaky and sweetly luscious with deep, browned flavor, the all-butter crust was the hands-down favorite. The shortening crust, however, was a bust among tasters. Even when combined with 70 percent butter, all agreed that the unpleasant greasy film the shortening left on the palate was not worth the vague texture improvement. Shortening is much less expensive than butter. Is it popular with bakers because of the cost? Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of "The Pie and Pastry Bible" (Scribner, 1998), gave another explanation. Because shortening is manufactured for stability at extreme temperatures (both hot in the oven and cold in the fridge), it is very easy to work with, she explained in an interview. "Shortening crusts enable you to get fancier decorations that will hold up when you bake," she said. Once she mentioned it, I realized that even the quickly crimped borders on my shortening crusts stayed pert in the oven compared to the butter border, which melted into Gaudí-like undulations. With round one going to butter, I next experimented with oil crusts inspired by the Mediterranean appeal of a pie pastry scented with extra-virgin olive oil holding a caramelized pear-pomegranate filling. I tested several olive oil variations, chilling the oil in the freezer before cutting it into the flour, and trying other desperation measures like adding egg to one, baking powder to another, and some butter to a third. Then I went on to test canola oil, grapeseed oil, coconut oil and ghee. Not one managed to even get close to a minimally acceptable flakiness level. I had better luck using chilled mixed-nut butter (you could use any natural nut butter, such as peanut, hazelnut, cashew, almond and so on). Combined with regular butter, it turned out a marginally flaky, cookie-like crust with a toasted nut flavor that goes particularly well with pumpkin pie. A dozen or so pies down, it was finally time to pull out my hero, the rendered leaf lard. I pitted it against an array of animal fats beef suet (the fat surrounding the kidneys), duck fat and processed supermarket lard just to see what would happen. The processed lard was not available at my Park Slope supermarket, but I scored it in a nearby bodega. I ordered rendered duck fat online, and picked up suet from the butcher, who charged me a token dollar and told me he usually threw it away. Then I baked and baked. The whole house took on a rich pastry scent with undertones of roasted meat and butter, tinged with ginger, nutmeg, thyme and honeyed apples from the fillings. Not wanting to give up the flavor of butter entirely, I tested all the recipes using half butter, half other animal fat, and also at a ratio of 70 percent butter to 30 percent other fat. I also made a few crusts using all high-fat, European-style butter. The crusts were spectacular, each in its own way. The high-fat butter produced a crust that was markedly flakier, more tender and puff-pastry-like than those made with regular butter. It also shrank a bit less when I pre-baked it, and had an irresistible, browned butter flavor. This was the perfect crust for anyone not inclined to include meat products in a dessert. But overall, the favorites were the crusts using 70 percent butter and 30 percent animal fat. Any more animal fat pushed the meatiness factor too far onto the savory side of the pie spectrum, making these better for quiches than for fruit and custard fillings. Of the three animals, pig, cow and duck, the duck fat crust had the lightest flavor and, texturally, struck the best a balance between crisp and flaky. The pie crust revelation, however, was the suet pastry. As easy to work with as the shortening crust, it retained its shape perfectly in the oven, baking up crisp yet marvelously tender and flaky. It was nearly as delectable as the leaf-lard crust, tasting rich and slightly meaty, though not identifiably beefy. Suet is easy to find (most butchers can get it for you) and inexpensive. One caveat: suet is sold unrendered, but, as I discovered by way of my own laziness, you do not need to render it. Simply cut out the pinkish bits, finely dice or grate the chilled white fat, and toss it in with the butter. More refined bakers might blanch at the idea; if youre one of them, go ahead and render to your hearts content. Still, the leaf lard crust was as gorgeous as I remembered. Puffing up in the oven, and crumbling deliciously when you cut it, it took the crown. That very mild hint of bacon was happily still there. Not so with the processed lard pastry, which had an off flavor veering toward barnyard. Now, after my brief moment of pastry satisfaction, Ill move onto the next obsessive round of pie crust testing. Theres a whole roster of fats Ive yet neglected goose fat, marrow, foie gras fat, browned butter, truffle butter ... and if anyone out there has a source for bear fat, Ill try that too.

Elmokali, I use to always buy premade pie crusts until my Dear Mother gave me this recipe. Perfect Pie Crust Every Time 4c. unsifted flour 2 tsp. salt 1 3/4 c Crisco 1/2 c water 1 TBSP white vinegar 1 large egg No matter how much you handle this dough it will be tender and flaky. Put the 4 cups of flour and salt in large bowl. Mix well. Add crisco and using a dough blender mix until ingredients are crumbly. In a measuring cup fill with 1/2 cup water, add vinegar and egg and mix well. Combine with flour mixture, stirring with fork until moistened. Divide dough into 4 equal parts. With hands, shape dough into 4 flat round patties. Wrap in platic wrap and chill for 1/2 hour. When ready, roll into crust. Can freeze up to two weeks before using and the dough will remain nice. I haven't bought pie crust since I made this the first time. Hope you like flaky crust and try this recipe. Let me know. Punk

You might want to try a little trick I use. I take Sprouted-Grain Cereal (they are wholegrain nuggets similar to Grape-nuts) and make a crumb crust with it much like making a graham cracker crust (which would be another option for you). It only takes a little bit of butter (about 1 T. melted) to make a whole lot of taste and it will be more satisfying than completely fat-free. Add a little honey for sweetener and to help it stick together and just press it in your pie pan and bake until it is set and browned a bit. I don't have a recipe, I just guess at the amounts and I use tart pans and make a small pie for two people. I make 2-servings of homemade chocolate pudding, or blueberry filling with frozen berries and thicken it a bit and add a sweetener to taste, using this "crust" for our little "tart pies". You can also pulse the cereal in a food processor if you don't like the "crunch". You could also make your lemon pie filling, fill the pie pan, add the meringue and go entirely crust-free. Here's my version of Apple Pie and hubby has never missed the crust. I serve it in a tulip-shaped ice cream dish with a little of the cereal sprinkled on the top and it's not bad with a bit of ice cream on the top, either. Orange Sauced Apples 3 T. brown sugar (I use agave nectar - a low-glycemic sweetener) 1 T. cornstarch 1/4 t. nutmeg 1 c. orange juice 2-3 medium cooking apples, thinly sliced In medium skillet (or pan), combine brown sugar, cornstarch, nutmeg and orange juice; blend well. Stir in apple slices. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil stirring occasionally. reduce heat. Cover; simmer 5-10 minutes or until apples are tender and sauce is thickened, stirring occasionally. Serve warm. Yields: Four (1/2-cup) servings. (We like the leftovers cold, the next day.) Note: I sometimes toss in some raisins, craisins, dried blueberries, or dried cherries to change it up a bit. Here's another favorite that is adapted from a recipe for Apricot Chutney. Once again, make a crumb crust, or just serve it with some of the cereal sprinkled over the top for that added crunch. 1/3 c. apricot spreadable fruit (or orange marmalade) 1 cup chopped apple (or just a whole apple or two) 1 T. raisins (this adds a "buttery" taste without adding fat) 1/4 t. salt 1/4 t. allspice (or applepie spice mix or cinnamon) 1 T. cider vinegar Mix all ingredients and heat to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for 12-15 minutes. I'm getting to be an expert at making non-crusted pies and we don't miss the crust AT ALL! Grainlady