Thanks to everyone who pointed out my typo:  it *is* 1 tsp salt!

I swear to you that this is the easiest pie crust you can ever imagine making.  The recipe is from Cooks Illustrated, which has never done me wrong, and it turns out a tender, flaky, easy to manipulate crust every single time.

The ingredients are simple:  Flour, salt, sugar, butter and shortening, ice water, and vodka.

Mix together the flour, salt, and sugar. I like to mix everything, cube the butter and shortening, and store everything in the fridge for a little bit first. That way everything is nice and cold when you mix it together.

Use a pastry cutter, a food processor, or just a couple of knives. Stop when your dough begins to look like this.

I keep the vodka in the freezer anyway, so it’s always icy cold. Measure out 1/4 of a cup.

Add the water and the vodka and mix. Because of the volume of liquid, this dough will be a lot moister and more pliable than your usual pie crust. I just use my hands (chilled under cold running water) to mix everything together quickly.

Divide the dough into 2 portions, pat into a small round, and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill the rounds of dough for at least an hour before rolling out. If you make multiple batches of this, you can wrap each round in plastic, then put them in freezer bags and freeze for several months.

You can add flavoring to the dough if you want, vanilla, almond, citrus, etc. Or you can leave it basic and let the buttery flavor shine through. This crust blind bakes really well (I line the crust with parchment paper and use beans to weight it down).

Here’s the actual recipe:
2.5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
12 tbsp (1.5 sticks) butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup shortening, cut into cubes
1/4 cup ice water
1/4 cup vodka

Mix together the dry ingredients. Add the chilled, cubed butter and shortening and cut together until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Add the liquid and mix until just combined. Pat out into 2 equal rounds, and refrigerate for at least an hour before rolling out. May be frozen (well wrapped) for up to 3 months.

Enjoy.