Quick Tip #5 - Flakier Pastry

I love to bake cupcakes and lots of other delicious things.  Recently I experimented with mixing pie crust into my batter and it was delicious!  I started to tell a friend about my pastry adventure and she shared some great pie pastry tips that her chef co-worker had passed along to her. Naturally, I felt the need to share them with you!

First, keep everything nice and cold.  Second, don't overwork the dough.  The trickiest part is definitely keeping it nice and cold.  So here are three great tips to keep your dough nice and cold for lighter and flakier pastry results! 

• Freeze EVERYTHING.  Put anything and everything is the freezer, from your food processor blade to your butter.
•  Substitute some or most of the water your recipe calls for with Vodka.  Yes, Vodka.  And put that in the freezer too!
• Use plastic wrap or wax paper to roll out your dough to keep your hands from coming into contact with the dough.

There you have it!  Nice and simple.  And in honour of pie, I will post my Apple Pie Cupcake recipe next.