Pie Crust with Cheese

Delicious.

So we cut into the Pear and Smoked Gruyere pie today, and it was good enough I thought it warranted a recipe for the crust:

You'll need:
1 cup liquid measuring cup
1 teaspoon
1 Tablespoon
9" Pie dish
Rolling Pin
Fork or Pastry cutter
Large Mixing Bowl

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
3/4 Cup Cheese of your choice, grated
1/3 Cup Milk
1 Cup Butter flavored vegetable shortening (I prefer Crisco)

Combine the Vinegar and Milk, set aside (the longer this sits, the better)

Mix Flour and salt in mixing bowl, cut in vegetable shortening with fork or pastry cutter until mixture starts forming crumbs, keep going until there is no powder in the bowl

Add the liquid, mix with your hands or a fork (not the pastry cutter) until you get a marbled look in the dough

Divide the dough in half, set half aside.

Flour counter and roll out dough until the area of the dough is larger than the pie pan, you can either fold it in quarters or fold it over the rolling pin and place it in the pie pan, press dough into corners of the dish

Fill the pie dish with your selection of pie filling

Fold the cheese into the crust you set aside, roll out until it will cover the pie.

Getting the crust over the pie will be tricky as the cheese will hinder the dough's ability to hold together, but the beauty of this pie crust is that it's really hard to mess up, so don't hesitate to re-roll it out if your crust falls apart completely. (Never ever do this with any other pie crust recipe, even the vodka one, it is a serious no-no)

Pierce the crust with a knife and bake according to your recipe's instructions.

The possibilities are endless! Pear with Gruyere, Apple and Cheddar, Strawberry and Parmesan. It's a whole new world of pies to explore.