I've struggled with pie crust in the past. Now I've found at least one recipe/technique I really like. I've only tested the one batch so far, but I'm really pleased with the flakiness. The two secret ingredients are: vodka and lard.

I used Cook's Illustrated foolproof pie dough, which uses half water and half vodka to ensure a flaky but malleable and forgiving pastry. The vodka provides extra liquid but limits the amount of water in order to shorten the gluten bonds forming, which will give a more tender crust. I adjusted the recipe slightly and instead of shortening, I used lard I picked up from my local butcher, Cleaver & Co. Lard, like vegetable shortening is better for pastry crust because it has a lower water content than butter, which ensures a flakier crust. This recipe uses a butter/lard combo to get the best of both worlds--is it the end all be all best pastry crust recipe ever? Probably not, but it's worth trying. It's tasty and flaky. The biggest downside was despite freezing the crust before baking, neither attempt kept the shape of my pretty pie edge designs. So I'd suggest doing something pretty basic as far as finishing goes.

The pecan pie recipe is adapted from Southern Living. The original recipe didn't fill my 9-inch pie pan, so I made some quantity adjustments. If this makes too much for you, make sure to look over at their recipe. I also substituted Steen's Southern Made for the light corn syrup. This particular Steen's product is part molasses/part corn syrup, so you get some of that molassesy goodness. If you want to mix the two yourself, I'd recommend about an 80:20-ish ratio of corn syrup to molasses (almost a cup of corn syrup and about 2 tablespoons or so of regular molasses (not blackstrap). Also, I made this recipe twice so far. The first one (pictured in this gooey slice on the right/above) was just a bit under cooked and the middle didn't quite set perfectly, but it tasted delicious. The second was just a tad over cooked and set up well but didn't taste as nice, so just keep an eye out on your pie in the last 10 minutes or so and see how its doing. Again, is it the greatest pecan pie recipe of all time? Eh....it was really good but I want to try out some other recipes as well. That said, I'm still keeping this one in the memory bank for now too.

Foolproof pastry crust (adapted from Cook's Illustrated)
makes one nine-inch double crust pie

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water

Instructions

1. Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt & sugar in food processor, or do it old-school--by hand with a pastry blender until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds in the food processor. It should start resembling crumbly cornmeal with no uncoated flour left in the bowl. Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse or blend until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and the mass of dough has been broken up. Empty into medium-ish bowl. 

2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. This will be a wet/kinda sticky dough. Divide it into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

3. Because this is a stickier dough than most, flour your rolling surface generously and roll out your dough to be slightly larger than the size of your pan. You want about an extra 1/2 inch or so in all directions, so you can fold the edge under itself for a clean smooth crust. Check out this slide show from Serious Eats for some cool ideas on edge finishing. Make sure to freeze your finished crust for at least 30-60 minutes before filling and baking.

Pecan Pie adapted from Southern Living
makes one nine-inch pie

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups pecan pieces
4 large eggs
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 cup Steen's Southern Made syrup
2 tablespoons melted butter
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions

1. Spread pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until toasted.
2. Stir together eggs, sugar, syrup, butter, vanilla and salt. Place pecans evenly in the crust and pour filling into pie shell.
3. Bake at 350° for 55 minutes or until set, shielding edges with a pie shield or aluminum foil after 20 minutes to prevent excessive browning.

~Happy Baking!~