Had to choose between butter and shortening for pie crusts

I spent years using shortening because my grandmother swore by it. Crisco every time, she said. But last Thanksgiving I finally did a side by side test with all butter crusts. Made four pies total, two of each kind. The shortening ones came out flaky but kind of bland. The butter ones had way more flavor and browned better in the oven. They were a little harder to roll out though, kept cracking on me. My family noticed the difference right away and said the butter ones tasted like real bakery pie. Now I only use butter and just deal with the fussy dough. Has anyone else made the switch and regretted it?

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haydenburns2mo ago

Crisco loyalists are gonna come after you for saying that but you're not wrong. Butter crusts are high maintenance but worth the headache.

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eva2432mo ago

Oh great, another butter vs. shortening war. I swear this debate is more intense than politics at Thanksgiving dinner. I'm with you though. Shortening is like eating a plain saltine cracker. It's there, it does the job, but nobody's gonna remember it. Butter gives that golden brown finish that makes people think you actually know what you're doing in the kitchen. The cracking thing is a real pain though. I've started adding a splash of ice water and giving the dough a quick chill before rolling. Helps a little. But honestly I'll take a few cracks over a tasteless crust any day.

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