Shirley's Pastry

April 2, 2020

“Butter is the ultimate luxury!” my Granny Shirley exclaimed, as we baked Christmas cookies together a few years ago. I will admit, during my anxiety-fueled pandemic panic shopping, it was butter and not toilet paper that was my priority. When it became clear that this global catastrophe was just beginning and was not likely to pass quickly, I made a quick decision to head back home to Winnipeg to be near (but appropriately socially distanced from) my family. Before the trip, I squeezed a couple of pounds of frozen butter into my suitcase.

As much as it is a luxury, butter is also a staple in my kitchen, as in many others. Spread on fresh bread, foaming in a frying pan, and maybe most importantly for me, the starting point of a good pie. If I’m celebrating, I make pie. If I’m stressed, I make pie. Right now, when the world feels like it’s crumbling beneath us and I’m trying to find my footing, pie is what I instinctually turn to – in my kitchen, and apparently, in my writing. While I haven’t had the capacity to focus on my master’s thesis for nearly two weeks, I have been able to cook (and write about) my favourite comfort foods. For pie, I always use my granny’s recipe, one that I’ve watched her make since I can remember.

Pie was always an integral dessert at family gatherings, large or small – saskatoon berry pie in the summer, meat tourtière in the winter, apple pie any and all times of the year. My Granny is the reigning pastry queen of the family. Her pastry was almost always made with vegetable shortening during my childhood. With the amount of pies our family ate, we would have gone through a lot of butter, an ingredient far too luxurious to be using in such great quantities.

I’ve been trying for over a decade, and I can’t get my crust quite as delicate and flaky as my Granny’s. Despite this, her recipe is very simple and makes a superb pastry. This recipe works just as well with shortening, butter, or (if you really want to treat yourself) lard, depending where you’re at on the decadence/luxury scale. I generally vacillate between butter and shortening, and use whichever I have in my pantry. Full disclosure - I called my Granny to make sure it was okay for me to share her recipe on this platform and it turns out it’s based off of the recipe from the inside of the Crisco box.

2 cups all-purpose flour
¾ cup cold butter, shortening, or lard
Pinch of salt
Cold water

Cut the fat into the flour and salt. Add cold water slowly, mixing just until pastry starts to stick together. Wrap and chill for at least 1 hour. Roll out and make into pie, galette, tarts, or turnovers. Fill with sweet or savoury fillings. Bake for 15 minutes at 425° and another 20-30 at 375° for a full pie. Reduce cook time by 10 minutes or so if making something smaller, like a tart. Try to wait at least 30 minutes before cutting into it, to let the juices settle.

For an apple pie filling: sliced & peeled apples (preferably Granny Smith) with white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to taste.

Ayda is a second-year MA student in Public History at Carleton University who is researching local history and memory on the Canadian prairies.