All-Butter Food Processor Pie Crust

Tis the season, whether we like it or not.  

I can't believe it's officially "the holidays."  I guess it comes with Halloween, or the first day of fall, or the months that end in brrrr, but now that Thanksgiving is LESS THAN 2 WEEKS AWAY, it's high time we get cracking on our meal planning, right?  

I'm not a big dessert-maker; there are many in my family that can out-bake me by a million.  Mac and cheese is my family meal go-to, but I wanted to try out a few easy shortcuts for pie this year.  The first is pie crust in a food processor.  I'm a massive fan of not exerting any effort when it comes to baking, and wanted something between store-bought pie crust and anything involving a pastry cutter.  

So here it is!  This version is made in the food processor with all butter and one recipe makes 2 crusts.  So, you can make one pie with a top and bottom crust, or 2 pies that don't need a top.  The crust can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for a few days, or made wayyyyy in advance and frozen until you need it.  Easy + versatile + butter.  I win.  

You need all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, salted butter (or unsalted and add a bit more salt), and water.  THAT'S IT.  You can completely accomplish this.  

The only important rule is to work quickly and keep everything, especially the butter, super cold.  To do that, I cut the butter into cubes and stick it in the freezer for about 10 minutes while I get everything else ready.  

Once the butter is in the freezer, measure the flour, sugar, and salt in the food processor and measure the water, then add an ice cube to keep it cold as well.  

Pulse the flour, sugar, and salt together a few times to combine, then add the cold butter.  

Pulse the butter into the flour mixture several times until the butter is incorporated but you can still see bits of butter about the size of peas, maybe larger.  Mix less rather than more on this! When the butter is broken up a bit, stream in the water with the food processor on just until a dough starts to come together - I used closer to 8 tablespoons of water, but how much you need will depend on your butter, the air, Allah, you get it. 

When the dough is crumbly but starting to stick together, dump it on a cutting board with a sprinkling of flour.  

Quickly separate the dough into 2 equal lumps, then form them into flat disks about 1-inch thick.  

Dough goes into plastic bags, zip, fridge!  Let the dough chill for 1 hour or for a few days.  

Tomorrow we'll make pie!  This crust works for so many things, though - turnovers, desserts of all kinds, savory pies like pot pie or that samosa pie that tastes heavenly.  Quiche, breakfast pastries....all of the things!  And it takes 10 minutes.  Worth it.