The Perfect Pie Crust?

I mentioned a while back that I have to bring a peach pie for a friend's wedding next month, but have never made one before.  A few of you were kind enough to share some recipes with me.  I have to admit, though, I still haven't tested any of them out! (peaches aren't exactly in season yet, though, so that will be my excuse...).

Since I've made a few meat pies for dinners, though, I've had the opportunity to at least test out some crust recipes.  My mom always used store-bought crusts, so that's what I grew up with.  But recently, I've been trying to find a tasty and easy crust I can make from scratch.  I tried one last night that I think might be a keeper.

It's not that this crust tastes substantially better than others that I've tried.  But I love that the dough is a little moister, and thus MUCH easier to work with and roll out.  I found this recipe on the back of a package of aluminum pie edge-liners I bought (can't remember the brand) - something I would recommend to anyone else who finds it really frustrating to get foil strips to stay in place!

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"Perfect Pie Crust"
 3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups vegetable shortening
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup cold water
1 Tbsp. white vinegar

Sift flour and salt; cut in shortening until it resembles coarse peas.  Mix remaining ingredients and stir into flour mixture until it forms a ball.  Roll out on floured board or pastry cloth (hint: use a rolling pin cover to prevent sticking).  For a more golden crust, beat an egg white with 1 tsp. sugar and brush the top of the pie lightly with a pastry brush before baking.  Makes one 10" double-crust pie.

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The recipe is for a ten-inch pie.  Since all my pans are nine inches, I was worried about the waste.  But I came up with a good use for the extra dough.  I cut out little bunnies, and sprinkled them with sugar and cinnamon, and baked them for about ten minutes.

I've been calling them "cinnabunnies", and Sly LOVES them.  So that's another benefit to using this recipe in the future - I'll always be able to make a little treat for the kids, without really doing any extra work!