Calling all pie and tart-makers! If you’ve got a dessert pie to make, consider the Perfect Sweet Pastry Crust. At Hipcooks, we make a savory pie crust for savory pies and tarts. And for desserts? For us, that calls for a sweet crust for sure. While not overly sweet, it’s nice to have a crust like a beautifully baked sugar cookie. Yum.
We’re sharing all our secrets: top tips that will yield the flakiest, tastiest (with just a hint of sweetness) pie crust. Just follow our recipe and steps.
Step 1: Don’t make it harder than it needs to be
Many recipes insist you prepare pie dough with only the coldest butter (or lard). They put the fear of God into you about overworking the dough. You must work with your hands quickly, yet thoroughly, yet minimally. Um, okay!
Here’s our thought:
- The butter can be any ol’ temperature you want. If it’s straight from the fridge or room temp and softened, it’s all good!
- Never mind doing this all by hand. Let’s have a machine do all the work!
Step 2: Cream the butter and sugar by machine
Get out your trusty food processor. Add the butter and sugar. Whizz away with no fear. There’s no threat of overworking the dough at this stage.
It’s a nice time to think about other things to add. If it’s going to be a Lemon Tart, or a Lemon and Goat Cheese Tart, I love to also add some lemon zest and a plop of vanilla bean paste to the butter and sugar. Sometimes, a bit of orange zest is just the ticket, like with our Quince and Frangipani Tart. Or how about adding a quarter cup of cacao powder for a chocolate sweetcrust pastry? I’ll bet a chocolate and Poached Pear Tart would be just divine in a chocolate sweetcrust pastry shell. I’m making that next!
Step 3: Pulse, pulse pulse the flour
Add the flour to the machine and pulse it in. Use quick short bursts of the food processor and stop when the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, like our photo.
Step 4: Add the eggs and let the dough come together
Add the egg yolks and pulse again. Plop the mixture onto a floured worksurface and the dough will come together! (You most likely will need no water at all, or just the merest sprinkle.)
Step 5: Chill, baby!
Cut 2 generous pieces of plastic wrap and sprinkle your choice of flour or powdered sugar on top of one piece. Place the dough on top, and sprinkle it with more flour or powdered sugar, and top with the second piece of plastic wrap. Press with your hand to flatten the dough into a disk. Chill it in the fridge for 10 minutes while you clean up.
Step 6: Ready to roll
Keep the dough inside the 2 pieces of plastic wrap as you roll the disk into a circle (or the best circle you can approximate! Because it’s still inside the plastic wrap, you can turn it easily. Roll it into the thickness and size you need. In the pic above, I placed the tart tin over the circle of dough to make sure it was large enough to cover both the bottom and the sides of the tart pan. Pop the dough (plastic wrap and all) into the fridge for another 5 minutes.
Step 7: Line the tart pan
Peel off the top layer of plastic wrap, and then flip the dough into the tart pan. Peel off the second layer.
Trim the overhanging pastry with scissors. Save some of these extra trimmed pieces, roll them into “sausages” to make repairs. For instance, I’ll use these pieces to make up for any dough that doesn’t uniformly reach the top of the pan, or if there are any rips in the pastry. “Dock” the pastry by pricking it with a fork, and pop it in the freezer for another round of chilling (at least 5 minutes) while you make the cartouche (see below).
Step 8: “Blind-baking”
“Blind-baking” the pastry is essential — pre-bake your tart shell before the filling goes in. This way, you have a pastry shell as crisp as a cookie (no soggy bottoms!)
To “blind bake” successfully, it’s nice to bake in 2 stages. First, weigh the pastry down with baking beans, rice, or (like me) dried garbanzo beans. I make a cartouche by folding a rectangle of parchment paper into triangles, measuring the radius of the tart pan, and cutting on an arc. If I’ve done it right, I’m left with a circle just a little larger than my tart pan. I “dock” the pastry (pick it with a fork to allow air to escape), lay the cartouche atop the pastry, and sprinkle in the beans over that. I bake for about 15-20 minutes until the pastry is dry, remove the beans and parchment, and bake again until the pastry is golden.
Et Voilà! The Perfect Sweet Pastry Crust. Easy as pie.
Now all you need to do is come up with something to fill it with! Decisions, decisions!
May we suggest:
Ingredients
9 tablespoons butter
½ cup powdered sugar
a pinch of salt
zest of a lemon or orange (optional, but nice!) or some vanilla
1½ cups flour
2 egg yolks
1 tablespoon of cold water, if you need itInstructions
Cream together butter, sugar, salt, and zest in the food processor. Pulse in the flour. Add the egg yolks, pulse in a few short blasts, and turn the dough onto a clean surface. If necessary, add cold water for it to draw together.
Wrap the dough in 2 pieces of plastic wrap and flatten it with the heel of your hand to a disk-shape. Set in the fridge to rest for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Roll out the dough in between the plastic wrap until it reaches the size you need. To gauge, place your tart pan on top of the dough to determine if you have enough to cover the base and sides.
Carefully peel off a layer of plastic wrap and flip the pastry into the tart shell. Once positioned, peel off the top layer. "Dock" the pastry by pricking it with a fork, and pop in the freezer for another round of chilling (at least 5 minutes) while you make the cartouche. Fold a square of parchment paper into a triangle, and again. Measure the radius of the tart pan, plus 3 inches for overhang.
You are ready to pre-bake, blind! Place the cartouche on the pastry case and fill with baking beans or rice. Bake for about 20 minutes, until dry, and then lift out the parchment with the baking beans and bake for another 20 minutes or so until golden.
Allow your perfect sweet crust pastry shell to cool before filling.
