It's Easy as Pie Crust

Pie Crust

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup (generous) Crisco
3 Tbsp. ice water

Preparation:

Chill flour, salt and Crisco. Blend ingredients thoroughly, cutting with a pastry blender or food processor. Add ice water and toss gently after each tablespoon. Roll and fit into an 8- or 9-inch pie pan. Bake at 425 degrees with weights for 8 minutes; remove weights and bake 8 more minutes or until lightly browned.

---Janet Esch, first-place blue ribbon in blueberry pies and Best of Show ribbon for pies, 2003 Lucas County, Ohio, Fair

Blueberry Pie

Ingredients:

one 9-inch piecrust (see recipe), baked
2 pints blueberries (raspberries, or other berries), divided
2-1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2/3 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. butter or margarine

Preparation:

Prepare a baked pie shell.

Combine 1 pint berries, cornstarch, water and sugar and cook on low heat. Stir until thick. When thick and most berries have bursted, add lemon juice and butter. Let mixture cool. Stir in 1 pint berries. Pour into shell. Refrigerate for at least two hours.

Yield: 8 servings

---Janet Esch, first-place blue ribbon in blueberry pies and Best of Show ribbon for pies, 2003 Lucas County, Ohio, Fair