Photo of Light piecrust by WW

Light piecrust

3
Points®
Total Time
40 min
Prep
10 min
Cook
30 min
Serves
8
Difficulty
Moderate
This renovated crust recipe will serve you well for any of your pie needs as it works with any filling. If you need an uncooked crust, eliminate the cooking step and fill and bake as directed in your recipe. Piecrusts are made by incorporating fat into flour—here we’ve used reduced-calorie margarine. When the fat melts as the crust bakes, it leaves behind flaky layers of crust. To get those layers, you’ll need to cut the margarine into the flour just until you see pieces of the fat no bigger than peas. If you prefer a more tender crust, you can continue to work the margarine in until it looks like coarse meal.

Ingredients

All-purpose flour

1 cup(s), plus extra for rolling out dough

Sugar

1 Tbsp

Reduced-calorie margarine

3 Tbsp, chilled and cut up

Water

2 Tbsp, or 3 Tbsp (depending on dough)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
  2. Combine flour and sugar in a large bowl or food processor. Add margarine and process, or mix together with your fingers, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add cold water, one tablespoon at a time, and process, or mix, until a manageable dough forms; turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 12-inch circle.
  3. Press dough into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan or removable-bottom tart pan; prick the bottom all over with a fork, cover dough with foil and fill with dried beans or rice.
  4. Bake 10 minutes. Remove beans and foil and bake until crust is golden brown, about 20 minutes more. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack. Yields 8 slices per crust.