Peppery Cornmeal Pie Crust #recipe from Molly MacRae

 

The Hoosier Mama Book of Pie, by Paula Haney and Allison Scott, taught me the magic of making pie crust in a food processor. I still make pie crust in my old mixing  bowl with a pastry blender too, because my hands have 60 years of pie-crust-making memories in them, but it’s amazing how quickly a good crust comes together at the push of a button.

This cornmeal crust is ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. I used it for one of our old favorites, spinach quiche, and may never go back to a standard crust for quiche again. Sometime this summer I’m going to experiment with leaving out the pepper and paprika and see how a double cornmeal crust works for fruit pies. My guess is that any fruit pie in a cornmeal crust will be ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC. If I don’t fall into a pie stupor I’ll let you know if that guess is right.

 

Peppery Cornmeal Pie Crust

(adapted from The Hoosier Mama Book of Pie by Paula Haney and Allison Scott)

 

Ingredients for a single crust (double the recipe for two crusts)

1 stick very cold unsalted butter

1 1/2 teaspoons red wine vinegar

3 1/2 tablespoons cold water

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika

 

Directions

Cut butter into 1/2-inch cubes.

Stir red wine vinegar into the cold water and set aside.

Combine flour, cornmeal, salt, paprika, and white pepper in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine.

Add butter and pulse until ingredients start to look sandy, 8 to 10 times or more.

Add vinegar water and pulse 4 or 5 times more until ingredients start to come together (don’t allow dough to come completely together in food processor).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, gently knead together, and form a ball. Wrap ball in plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator until ready to use but for at least 20 minutes.

Roll dough, fit into pie plate, and fill with the savory filling of your choice.

 

Coming Soon - Come Shell or High Water!

Book 1 in the Haunted Shell Shop Mysteries 

 

When widowed folklorist Maureen Nash visits a legendary North Carolina barrier island shell shop, she discovers its resident ghost pirate and the mystery of a local’s untimely death . . .

If you'd rather visit Scotland, try my Highland Bookshop Mysteries. 

In the mood for yarn and cool, green mountains of Tennessee? Try my Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries.

There are short stories and stand-alone mysteries, too.

And super-gentle cozy mysteries written under my pen name, Margaret Welch.

 

The Boston Globe says Molly MacRae writes “murder with a dose of drollery.” She’s the author of the award-winning, national bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries and the Highland Bookshop Mysteries. As Margaret Welch, she writes books for Annie’s Fiction and Guideposts. Her short stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine and she’s a winner of the Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction.

Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest and connect with her on Twitter  or Instagram.