On Monday, I made an apple pie. It looked all right and tasted pretty good.
The crust was a complete flop though. I tried a new recipe from Allrecipes.com – just searched for pie crust and selected one based on high ratings. Then I substituted coconut oil for the shortening. What a total failure.
It was actually kind of puzzling. I’ve been using coconut oil instead of shortening for a long time now, and have never had any bad results in any other recipe. But this time was different. The crust wouldn’t hold together for anything! All I can think of was that I didn’t let it chill in the fridge long enough (the recipe didn’t call to chill the dough at all). The bottom crust I started working immediately, and put the rest of the dough in the fridge to chill until I was ready for it. It just kept breaking and falling apart. I called my mother-in-law for help and she probably thinks I’m completely inept in the kitchen from our “my pie crust looks awful!” conversation. It was easier to work with the top crust, so chilling it did seem to help some.
It was the flakiest pie crust I have EVER eaten. It also would have been better with a touch more salt in it as it tasted a little bit bland. But other than that. . .I think I just might try the recipe again. . .maybe. . .
There is a reason I don’t make pies that often. Pie crusts and I just do not get along!