A little bit of bourbon makes this bourbon pie crust extra crispy, flakey, and flavorful! Bourbon is my favorite spirit, and its natural sweetness and depth is a perfect addition to this pastry!
Use this pie crust with your favorite filling! It's my go-to for My Famous Bourbon Caramel Apple Pie, Spicy Bourbon Blackberry Pie, and these Bourbon Strawberry Hand Pies.
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Why you love this recipe:
Pies are such a perfect dessert, and the crust is a large part of what makes them amazing! This recipe is so delicious because some of the bourbon evaporates during baking which makes this pastry flakier and crispier than traditional pie crust.
Ingredients
Butter: butter is incredibly important in pie crust. Butter not only adds fat and flavor, but it is what helps create all the flakey layers.
All-purpose flour: flour adds structure to the pie dough; it's what holds all the butter together.
Sugar: sugar adds a little sweetness to the dough.
Water: water binds all the ingredients together and makes the dough pliable.
Bourbon: bourbon is used both in the pie crust and in the filling and it helps to make a really flakey crust. Part of the alcohol evaporates and makes a very flakey crust. The bourbon also adds a gorgeous flavor to the filling. You can use any bourbon but I used Woodford Reserve for this recipe.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make this recipe:
Add the flour, salt, and sugar to a food processor and pulse and few times to blend everything together.
Next, add in the butter and pulse until the dough is lima bean sized.
Next add water, and bourbon and pulse until just before a dough forms. It still should be a little loose but hold together when squeezed.
Lightly knead on a well-floured surface and divide into two discs if making a top and a bottom crust.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
Dust a layer of parchment paper with flour and place dough on top; dust with more flour and roll the dough out.
Crimping, lattice, and crust decorations:
- Crimping: crimp the sides of the crust by folding the excess dough back and under the desired edge of the crust. Using your thumb and pointer finger, pinch the raised dough into a crimped U shape.
- Simple top crust: Before you crimp the sides of the bottom dough, lay the top crust over the filling and trim the excess dough so that it only hangs over the edge a bit. Then perform the same crimping process listed above by tucking the overhand of both crusts under the edge and then pinching the dough. Cut 4-5 slits in the top crust before baking for ventilation.
- Lattice top crust: for a lattice crust, I double my double crust recipe to ensure I have the dough to cover the top of the pie completely. Divide the dough into two discs, one ⅓ and the other ⅔rds of the dough. Once chilled, the smaller disc is the bottom dough, and the larger disc will be the lattice top. Roll the dough out to ¼ inch and about 12 inches long. Cut the dough into 1-2 inch pieces. Place half of the pieces vertically on the pie. Fold every other strip back halfway, and place a new strip horizontally next to the rolled-back pieces. Move the folded strips back and fold back the strips that were kept in place before. Repeat the process until the pie is covered.
Par Baking and Blind Baking:
If you are making a crust for a custard pie or cream pie, baking the crust before adding the filling is key.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Add the pie crust to a pin pan and crimp the sides.
- Line the crust with parchment paper and fill it up with pie weights, dry rice, beans, or sugar.
- Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the parchment and weights and bake for 5-15 minutes more based on how much you need the crust to be baked.
You can keep the wrapped crust in refrigerator for up to three days and up to three months in the freezer.
The Best Bourbon Pie Crust
- Prep Time: 1 ½ hour
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 1 pie crust 1x
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
A little bit of bourbon makes this bourbon pie crust extra crispy, flakey, and flavorful! Bourbon is my favorite spirit, and its natural sweetness and depth is a perfect addition to this pastry!
Ingredients
For a single crust:
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup butter (1 stick)
- 2 tablespoons ice water
- 2 tablespoons cold bourbon
- 1 egg for the wash
For a double crust:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
- ¼ cup cold bourbon
- ¼ ice water
- 1 egg for the wash
For double lattice crust:
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 2 cups (4sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
- ½ cup cold bourbon
- ½ cup ice water
- 1 egg for wash
Instructions
- Add the flour, salt, and sugar to a food processor and pulse and few times to blend everything together.
- Next, add in the butter and pulse until the butter is lima bean sized.
- Then add the water and bourbon and pulse until just before a dough forms. It still should be a little loose but hold together when squeezed.
- Lightly knead on a well-floured surface and divide into two discs if making a top and a bottom crust.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
- Dust a layer of parchment paper with flour and place dough on top; dust with more flour and roll the dough out. Periodically checking and lift the bottom to ensure it is not sticking. Dust with more flour if the dough is getting too sticky.
- Use the parchment to transfer the dough to the pie pan.
- Repeat for the 2nd disk.
- Then add your filling or blind-bake the dough.
Elizabeth says
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Deborah M says
I made this exact pie crust and I loved it EXCEPT the last time, my crust shrunk down ruining my pretty stand-up crust. What did I do wrong?
Pate Giltner says
Hi! I'm so glad you liked it and sorry it shrunk. The butter probably melted a bit too much. I control mine shrinking by either bake it from very very cold or completely sucuring it with beans/rice/pie weights.