Crusts

So I am a strong believer in that you can not call something homemade unless you have actually made the entire thing at home yourself. So you can't call a pie or tart homemade if you went out and purchased the crust. I am not a fan of semi-homemade things... sorry Sandra Lee. And by the way to all of you crust buyers WE KNOW a purchased pie crust sticks out like no other. And some people are okay with that but if you are anything like me you are not.

So now the real debate: Butter or Shortening

This is something that my mom and I have gone around and around about and every time a go to make a pie or tart crust she always gives me a hard time. My mother is a shortening fan I on the other hand think that butter works way better. And every time she sees me making a crust with butter she always tells me that my crust is going to be tough because of it but the amazing thing is that no one has ever complained to me that my crusts are bad. Now on the other hand EVERY TIME (and I really mean every time) I struggle to just roll the crust out. I can't ever get it to roll out nicely and I have to start over and over and over again until the dough gets so tough that I can't even work with it and then I am so frustrated at that point that I don't even care how my pie or tart turns out.The next time I make a crust I will take pictures to show you what happens when I try to use shortening. And I have never had any problems with using butter it always cuts into the four nicely and rolls out easily as well. So until people start to complain about my crusts that I make with butter I am going to continue to make them and my mom is just going to have to deal with it. And honestly the crusts that I find to be the toughest, and I mean so tough that you can't even cut into it, are the ones that are store bought. So in my opinion the only way to avoid a tough crust is to use butter and make it yourself.