Pie Crust-by Bonnie Shetler

Over the Christmas holiday I attempted to make a pumpkin pie using my food processor to prepare the crust. I had first tried this technique a month or so earlier with moderate success and was hoping that, with a little practice, I could refine my technique. I made one crust for the pie and another for the freezer. The crusts  rolled out so smoothly and slid into the pie pans so easily I thought I must have finally mastered the art. Under the old pastry blender method I generally needed to piece the thing back together in the pie pan.

That is until we cut into the perfect-looking pie. The crust was as tough as cement. We ate it by picking it up like you would a slice of pizza. I could not figure out what I had done wrong. We pulled the second crust out of the freezer and discarded it.

Then a few nights ago I was listening to a radio report on food companies who were  quietly cheapening ingredients to save money. The example they gave was Smart Balance, a butter alternative I have been using for years in baking, including in pie crusts. They  had almost halved the amount of oil in the ‘interest of spreadability’ and the last tub we purchased was the new and improved version. The reported feedback from consumers was devastating - they hated it.  So much so that the company reverted to the former recipe but left the remaining oil-deprived version on the shelves.  After confirming the oil content (39%) we tossed the entire tub we had recently purchased.

While I was disgusted with the company’s deception, still it was a relief that the pastry fiasco was no reflection on my aging brain or abilities after all. Interesting that my first theory was that it was I who had somehow miserably failed .