I was lucky to have the nicest mother-in-law ever, Margaret. She’s been gone many years, but when she was alive, she loved me so much and always took care of me. When I first started dating my husband, I would pop over to her house (unannounced!), and she always welcomed me with open arms—immediately grabbing snacks or pulling out ingredients to make lunch.
Margaret was a great cook too! She had ELEVEN children (my husband is the youngest) – can you imagine having to cook for that many people every single dinner?!?! I cannot! Despite having a busy family, working as a teacher she always had such a joy about her. I loved that she and I could talk about recipes – which we did a ton!
When she passed away, I was gifted her Joy of Cooking Cookbook – I am sure many of you have this cookbook in your house. It basically has any recipe known to mankind! I love this cookbook because it has a lot of different techinques for making recipes.
The best part about getting this cookbook was in between the pages are newspaper clippings of recipes, recipes written on napkins tucked inside. It’s nice to see her handwriting again too. One of the recipes she wrote down was from a friend of hers (Mildred Jones) for a simple pie crust recipe. She made this simple pie crust many times!
Pie Crust
Ingredients: 3 cups flour, 1 1/4 cups Crisco (that’s probably why it tastes so good!), 1 egg, 1 Tablespoon vinegar, 5 tablespoons cold water.
Directions: Mix dry ingredients: In a large bowl, stir the flour and salt until blended.
Cut in shortening: Use a pastry blender or two forks to cut the cold shortening into the flour mixture until the pieces are about the size of peas. Avoid using your hands for this step to prevent the shortening from melting with body heat.
Add water: Gradually add the ice-cold water, one tablespoon at a time, stirring gently with a fork after each addition. Add just enough water until the dough holds together when you press a small amount with your fingers. The dough will still look crumbly at this point.
Chill the dough: Quickly use your hands to shape the dough into a ball, then flatten it into 4 balls. Wrap each ball tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 days. Chilling is crucial for flakiness and ease of rolling.
Roll out: On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough from the center outwards into an 11 or 12-inch circle, depending on your pie plate size. For a 9-inch pie plate, an 11-inch circle is standard.
Transfer and crimp: Carefully transfer the dough to your pie plate. Trim the edges and crimp or flute them decoratively.
Bake: Proceed with your specific pie recipe instructions for filling and baking. For a blind bake (pre-baking an empty crust), you can prick the bottom and sides with a fork and bake at a high temperature, such as 425°F for 15 minutes, or until golden brown.
This is my Mother-in-Law Margaret – on my wedding day – March 11, 1995
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