I try to avoid going shopping any more often than necessary with the pandemic. However, I wanted to make tarts and I didn’t have any lard! When I was a teenager, I used to make my pastry with shortening. Necessity is the mother of trying something different!
I pulled a box of Crisco® Shortening out of the fridge and used the recipe on the outside of the box.
Mix 500 ml (2 cups) Robinhood Original All Purpose Flour® with 4 ml (3/4 tsp) salt.
Cut 250 ml (1 cup) of room temperature Crisco® shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until the mixture is uniform and the shortening resembles coarse crumbs.
Beat 1 egg, 30 ml (2 tbsp) cold water, and 15 ml (1 tbsp) white vinegar together.
Pour all the liquid over the flour. and mix with a fork until the flour mixture is moistened.
Here, I had pause. I am used to adding just enough liquid to bring it together but I trusted the recipe and put it all in.
Form the dough into 2 balls and flattened them. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
The crust is now ready to be used.
I rolled it out and cut it into circles to fill my tart tins. I used my Green Tomato Mincemeat in them and cut smaller circles to cover.
I baked for 10 minutes at 450 F (230 C), then reduced the heat to 350 F (175 C) and baked until the pastry was a nice brown, about 30 minutes.
The Verdict
This is a great pastry crust! It had a nice flake, was tender, and had a great bite. The really amazing thing was how easy the pastry went together and that it was easy to work with. I will use this recipe again!
The Old Fat Guy
Ingredients
- 500 ml (2 cup) Robinhood Original All Purpose Flour®
- 4 ml (3/4 tsp) salt
- 1 egg
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) cold water
- 15 ml (1 tbsp) white vinegar
Instructions
- Mix 500 ml (2 cups) Robinhood Original All Purpose Flour® with 4 ml (3/4 tsp) salt.
- Cut 250 ml (1 cup) of room temperature Crisco® shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until the mixture is uniform and the shortening resembles coarse crumbs.
- Beat 1 egg, 30 ml (2 tbsp) cold water, and 15 ml (1 tbsp) white vinegar together.
- Pour all the liquid over the flour. and mix with a fork until the flour mixture is moistened.
- Form the dough into 2 balls and flattened them. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- The crust is now ready to be used.
