This year we celebrated Pie Day with Smitten Kitchen’s Apple Pie Cookies. And let me tell you, they were the talk of the town, or at least our street since we shared some with a few of our neighbours.

They were a bit of a process to make, more so than a standard batch of cookies but about on par with baking a pie. Smitten Kitchen has loads of pie crust making tips that I poured over before starting the process. She is completely right about not messing around with dough that has warmed up too much, it’s not worth the headache, just pop it in the freezer for a few minutes then try again. Seriously.

Until now I think I’ve only ever really made two kinds of pie crusts – my Grandma’s piecrust and the pastry for the butter tarts recipe on the Crisco box. These Apple Pie Cookies call for a butter crust and it was love at first bite! I may just be making all my future crusts this way. So tasty! And it was really easy to swap the butter with Earth Balance Spread so Darren could eat them happily. This crust recipe has turned out the best of any I’ve ever made and it was definitely the easiest once I read all of Smitten Kitchen’s tips. Try it once. You’ll see. Come over to the dark side filled with buttery pie crusts.

What would I do differently? I think I need to roll the crust out a bit thinner so I can get more cookies per batch, though this has been an ongoing problem for me, I always end up with less cookies/muffins/cupcakes than the recipe tells me I should have. Plus I’d cut the apple a bit thicker (perhaps twice as thick?) to get a bigger hit of apple-y goodness when I bite into them.

So, talk to me about pie crusts. Do you use shortening, lard, or butter? Hot water or cold water? Have you been making the same recipe for years or are you constantly trying new ones?