Pie crust is a thorn in my side when it comes to baking! More often than not my pie crustruins a perfectly good pie! Anyway, every once in awhile I get a pie crust just right and I'm learning to WRITE the recipe down. Now recently I posted recipe for Fresh Strawberry Pie on eHow and it dawned on me (after the fact of course) That I have some really good variations for pie crust. So here they are! Enjoy!

Hydrox (Oreo) Cookie Crust

• 18 Hydrox (oreo) cookies crushed
• 4 tablespoons butter

Press into pie tin and chill

Vanilla Cookie Crust

• 25 vanilla wafers crushed
• 4 tablepoons butter

Press into pie tin and chill

Ginger Snap Crust

• 20 ginger snap cookies crushed
• 4 tablespoons butter

Press into pie tin and chill

Graham Cracker Walnut Crust

• 3/4 cup coarsely ground walnuts
• 3/4 cup finely cruashed graham crackers
• 3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter

Combine walnuts, graham crackers and butter. Press into the bottom (and/or sides) of pie tin. Chill.

Perfect Pie Crust

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 4 to 6 Tbsp ice water

1 Cut the sticks of butter into 1/2-inch cubes and place in the freezer for 15 minutes to an hour (the longer the better) so that they become thoroughly chilled.

2 Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor; pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse 6 to 8 times, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it's ready. If the dough doesn't hold together, add a little more water and pulse again.

3 Remove dough from machine and place in a mound on a clean surface. Gently shape into 2 discs. Knead the dough just enough to form the discs, do not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days.

4 Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften just enough to make rolling out a bit easier. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle; about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of flour under the dough to keep the dough from sticking. Carefully place onto a 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge of the pie dish.

5 Add filling to the pie.

6 Roll out second disk of dough, as before. Gently place onto the top of the filling in the pie. Pinch top and bottom of dough rounds firmly together. Trim excess dough with kitchen shears, leaving a 3/4 inch overhang. Fold the edge of the top piece of dough over and under the edge of the bottom piece of dough, pressing together. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with a fork. Score the top of the pie with four 2-inch long cuts, so that steam from the cooking pie can escape.

Egg Wash

A lovely coating for a pie can be achieved with a simple egg wash.

• 1 Tbsp heavy cream, half and half, or milk
• 1 large egg yolk

Beat egg yolk with cream and brush on the surface of the pie with a pastry brush.