The Easiest Pie Crust

For summer desserts, make the easiest pie crust ever and fill it with ice cream, puddings, or fresh fruit.

Pie crusts have a notorious reputation for being difficult to make. If you are new to baking, the instructions alone can be intimidating: use ice water, cut in shortening, handle gently, roll out on floured surface. So this summer, make this pie crust your new best friend. It's simply a cookie dough pressed into a pie pan and baked. You don't have to roll out a crust, there's no fussy ingredient temperature concerns, and it's delicious too. Fill it with ice cream, ice cream toppings, and goodies like chopped candy bars, marshmallows, chocolate chips, and nuts; basically make a huge ice cream sundae in a pie crust! Enjoy.

Cookie Pie Crust

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1-1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In medium bowl, combine butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat well until mixture is smooth. Then add flour, baking powder and salt and mix until a dough forms.

Lightly grease a 9" pie pan with unsalted butter. Divide dough into pieces and place in pan. Press dough against bottom and up sides of pie pan; form a 1/2" lip and flute with your fingers.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 8-10 minutes, checking frequently, until pie crust is light golden brown. Cool completely on wire rack, then fill with ice cream and toppings. Or you can prepare a 6 serving size package of instant pudding and fold in a 12 oz. container of frozen whipped topping that has been thawed. Put that in the pie crust and chill or freeze until serving time.