I forgot about the frozen butter/box grater method - I will have to try that next time. I did find that the crust came out tougher when I mixed in the water in the FP, but I actually did not pulse it and only turned the blade with my hand to do the mixing. I was already considering cutting the fat in by hand using a pastry blender - I use 2 parts butter and 1 part shortening in pie crust. I wonder if I could grate the butter using the grater blade of the Cuisinart. I am a bit concerned about heating up the butter with my hand if I use a box grater. I think my old FP did a better job of combining the fat and the flour because it had slow speed options, and the Cuisinart only has one speed - very fast - and that does not seem optimal for mixing butter and flour. It is better for pureeing beans, however, or for slicing huge quantities of vegetables, but I really don't use it enough to justify leaving it on the counter. Lars

Does sound like it would have been a good deal. Mine is probably at least 30 years old but still works fine.

Me too. For reference, I'm the one who very quickly received a replacement a couple of weeks after registering in December. They just sent the wrong blade. There was a flurry of correspondence in the first week of January with a written promise to send the correct blade when it became available. Today, (six months later) I was e-mailed the following update: "Valued Customer, "Thank you for your inquiry. According to our records, your blade won'"t [SIC] ship out until after June sometime. Now this is just an estimate and you could be receiving it a lot sooner than that. If you have any further questions please reply, with all previous correspondences attached, to this email. We invite you to call our Customer Service Department at 1-800-726-0190. Please keep in mind the Customer Service Agent will not have access to your e-mail information. The hours of operation are 7 AM -11 PM EST Monday through Friday and 9 AM - 5:30 PM on Saturdays and Sundays, excluding major holidays." FWIW, my original blade is still fine apart from seeming to be starting to dull a bit after 15 years use. Otherwise, I might be more annoyed about the length of time it is taking to get the replacement.

Hi Everyone! I have now used my second replacement blade #8611DLC-861TXB-CSR two times. I have made a cake and two pie crusts. Both trials the blade stayed on the stem; the blade sounded rattle like it was going to come off; ingredients were pooled unmixed around bottom of blade. Clearly the only way to use this blade is to add ingredients such as soda, vanilla, etc at the end on top of dry ingredients and hope it gets mixed it. By the way, my second replacement blade delivered 10 days after calling is the same exact number as my first replacement blade ! I feel my Cuisinart has been reduced in quality and productivity by this blade recall! Thinking of trying to contact Consumers Reports or the Attorney General’s office. There must be lots of disgruntled users out there! Your thoughts.