A "New" Pie Crust - Mom's Favorite

Today, I had planned to make Smitten Kitchen's Apple Slab Pie.
But it's summer solstice, I had stone fruit instead of apples.
And on such a beautiful summer afternoon, I jettisoned Deb's buttery pie crust in favor of something less finicky.
And for the four of us, I made a small and round instead of a big and party-size rectangular.
In reality, I guess I was making a peach-nectarine "slabbette" after the Smitten Kitchen model.

Anyway...Mom pressed me to use her favorite crust recipe - The Never Fail Pie Crust from the Zion Lutheran Church 115th Anniversary Cookbook. (See, right.) I was dubious. How can this be her favorite recipe if I never heard of it before. And wait, what?  There's an egg in this crust? No way!

But okay - it's my Mom. (Melissa would be nodding and saying "uh-huh, she knows.")

So, right about the time I stirred the liquid into the flour-shortening crumble, I started to fall for it. Never had a crust come together like that! Then, I divided it and without chilling it, rolled out the bottom crust and...Whoa! That was smooth.

The final swoon came after I rolled-out and picked-up and placed the top crust. This is never a good moment in my pie-making - it's why I like galettes. Today, it was a breeze and the romance was sealed with the crimped edges of the slabbette.


Well, truly the romance was on when I tasted the first bite of this peach-nectarine gem of a pastry. This is a fine, flaky, short, lovely crust!

Now, I have a new favorite pie crust recipe and, lucky me, it's a generous one, so I have two balls of crust in the 'fridge for later this week.

You might check it out, too. I pasted the spattered and  spotted recipe just to the left.

Thanks Marie Wieck, for contributing the recipe. Thanks, Jane Meyer, for giving this book to my mom! Thanks, Mom for persisting in trying to educate me in the kitchen.

To all my Jones cousins - have fun at the family reunion next week! Wish I could be with you. Maybe next time!