Three Babe's Mini Pie Crusts Recipe

1. Place butter in a bowl in the freezer. Combine water, vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small bowl and stir until dissolved. Transfer to freezer.

2. Measure the flour into a chilled bowl. Remove the butter from the freezer and, using a pastry cutter, cut into the flour until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Use your hands to break up any large pieces of butter.

3. Sprinkle the flour and butter with the water and vinegar mixture a little at a time, tossing the mixture at first and then pressing together with a spatula, until the dough just comes together. Pat the dough into a disk, wrap with plastic, and chill for at least 1 hour in the fridge.

4. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough out into an even rectangle, that’s at least 9- by 13-inches. Use the lid of a takeout container and a pizza slicer (or just use a very large biscuit cutter) to cut 4-inch circles from the sheet of dough. Carefully transfer to a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and chill for 30 minutes. If the scraps are still cold, you can re-roll them and use the pizza slicer to slice thin strips for lattice. Place those into the refrigerator to chill separately for later use (if you are making fruit lattice mini pies).

5. Melt about 2 tablespoons of butter in the microwave and use a pastry brush or a paper towel to generously grease the top and cups of a muffin tin.

6. Fit your circles into the muffin tin, making sure that there are no air bubbles on the bottom or sides of the pan. Chill in refrigerator while you make your filling.

Special equipment

pastry cutter, spatula, standard size muffin tin, pastry brush