Cheater Pie Crust & Lemon Meringue Pie

A bottle of canola oil fell out of the pantry.  The plastic cap busted, and oil spilled all over the floor.  I found another container for what was left in the bottle, but there was still some that wouldn’t quite fit.  What to do?  I wasn’t going to throw it out.  I needed to find something to make using about a cup of oil.

The ingredient search on allrecipes.com is nice when you’re trying to find something to make when you’re limited in your resources, or just want to use something specific.  One of the problems I’ve encountered is that when I type in what I want to use I find a recipe that requires something I don’t have.  That wasn’t the case this time!  I found this pie crust recipe using that feature and figured I’d give it a try.

I’ve always made pie crusts using cold fats like butter or shortening, which are cut into the flour, adding cold water to bind the dough, and then refrigerating  the dough before rolling it out, always being careful not to over mix so that a tender flaky crust is achieved.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a recipe like this one for pie crust.  There’s no careful mixing, no chilling time, and canola oil is used instead of butter.  You even mix it all up in the pie plate, so only one dish gets dirty!  I had to give it a try.

This does not yield a traditional flaky crust.  It’s more like a cross between a sugar cookie and a graham cracker crust in texture.  The flavor is similar to a plain pie crust, a tad salty, which went well with the sweet and tart lemon filling.  This lemon meringue recipe (also from allrecipes.com) was pretty good.  My mom has a lemon meringue pie recipe that is more delicious, and a little easier.  I need to get that recipe from her.  This one is quite good though.  I should know, since Ben doesn’t like lemon meringue, I had to eat the entire thing myself…over the course of a week.

If I find myself pressed for time, I would use this crust again.  If I find myself pressed for time and happen to have a Pillsbury refrigerated crust…I would use that instead.

Here are the links to the recipes.  I made no changes.

Cheater Pie Crust

Lemon Meringue Pie