Cut butter into small cubes and place in the fridge to firm up while you get the rest of your ingredients together.
Combine flour, salt, (and sugar/spices if making a dessert pie) in a medium sized bowl.
Add shortening and combine with your hands until coarse crumbs form. After the shortening is fully incorporated, add the cold chunks of butter until you get pea sized crumbs.
Add cold water (or vodka) and combine until dough forms a nice ball but is still slightly sticky.
Take the formed ball of dough and separate into 2 equal sections and shape into slightly flattened disks. Wrap the disks in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This is important to keep the butter from melting so that the crust will be nice and flaky. The chilled dough is also much easier to work with for rolling out and creating designs.
Lightly flour granite counter-top or pastry stone. Roll out dough to about ¼ inch thick and about 2 inches wider than your pie pan. Roll the pie crust into the pie pan and be sure to poke the bottom a few times with a fork to allow air to escape during baking. Cut away any undesired excess crust and crimp, curl, or decorate the edges however you like!
Baking filled pies
Pour desired filling into crust. If desired, top with second piece of rolled dough or whatever fun designs you like.
Brush top and edges lightly with egg wash and be sure to cut at least one hole in the top of the crust to allow air to escape (if making a dessert pie, I highly recommend sprinkling coarse sugar on top after the egg wash).
Let the pie chill in the fridge for another 20 minutes before baking
Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350°F for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. If the edges of the crust start to get too brown, cover with aluminum foil for the remainder of baking.
Baking unfilled crust
Chill the pie crust in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before baking (if you skip this step, the pie crust will shrink). While the crust is chilling, preheat the oven to 425°F.
Place a piece of parchment paper or heavy duty aluminum foil inside the pie crust and fill with pie weights (uncooked rice or dry beans also work great).
Bake at 425°F for 15 minutes. Carefully lift the parchment paper and pie weights then return the pie crust to the oven to bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the bottom of the crust is golden brown.
Let the crust cool completely room temperature and then fill with desired no-bake filling!
Let it rest
Letting the pie rest for a bit after removing from the oven helps the filling thicken up and prevents a runny pie. For pies that you want to eat immediately while they're still hot, it's still best to let it rest for 20-30 minutes before cutting so that the filling can thicken up slightly. But for fruit pies or custard pies, letting the pie rest for at least 4-6 hours is ideal!
Notes
This recipe makes enough pie crust for a top and bottom crust. If making an no-bake pie that only requires a bottom crust, simply halve the recipe.Dough can be chilled longer and be kept in fridge for up to 3 days, but may need to sit at room temperate for 5 minutes or so if refrigerated for over an hour.