Mixed Review: Jiffy Pie Crust Mix
Nothing instills fear in novice home bakers more than the prospect of making a pie crust from scratch. Will it roll out neatly? What if tears while transferring from work surface to pie plate? Can anything be done if it starts to bubble or burn in the oven?
While there are no-fail crust recipes out there, it's true that even the simplest ones can be difficult to master, and finicky on occasion. And few kitchen experiences are more frustrating than investing a whole lot of time, energy, and love into a pie only to have it fall apart.
Fortunately, there are plenty of alternatives to agonizing over the perfect ratio of flour, butter, shortening, and ice water. My preferred way to avoid making a pie crust is simply to bake a crumble, crisp, or cobbler instead. But there are times when only a show-stopping deep-dish pie will do. On those occasions a quick trip to the supermarket turns up a number of options, from refrigerated Pillsbury to frozen Mrs. Smith's to Jiffy's Pie Crust Mix.
At 79 cents a box, Jiffy is by far the most economical option. To make the crust, the instructions direct you to simply dump the mix into a bowl, add 4 to 5 tablespoons of ice water (one at a time), and stir with a fork until the dough comes together. I tried this method at first, but quickly abandoned it in favor of pulsing the mix and water together in the food processor—it was far too difficult to blend smoothly with a only a fork.
After forming my dough I determined that the ball was much too small to divide in half for a double crust pie, but it looked just about right for a single crust. It was a bit soft, so instead of rolling it out immediately (as the Jiffy box suggests) I wrapped it in plastic and chilled it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Rolling out the crust proved to be extremely problematic. It was sticky and crumbly at the same time. The dough desperately needed to be floured in order to prevent it from cleaving like superglue to the rolling pin, but it was simultaneously dry and cracking at the edges. After doing serious battle for several minutes, I gave up. There was no way I was going to be able to roll the dough into a circle large enough for a 9-inch pie plate.
It was time for a backup plan. Rummaging through my cabinets produced two long-forgotten miniature (4-inch) pie plates I had left over from a recipe testing job. By rolling the Jiffy dough out and then re-rolling the scraps, I had enough to make two single mini-crusts, plus a little extra. I pricked the bottom with a fork; crimped the edges; and filled them with a mixture of chopped peaches, sugar, tapioca flour, and cinnamon. After throwing together an impromptu crumb topping (flour, oats, light brown sugar, and butter), I slid my mini-pies into a 425°F degree oven.
Once they were baking, the crust seemingly improved. The edges puffed up ever-so-slightly and took on an even, golden hue. When the pies were done, I had to admit the crusts looked perfect—crisp and brown. But how would they taste?
Unfortunately, not as good as they appeared. The Jiffy pie crust proved to be, in a word, salty. It tasted like it was made from crushed soda crackers: dry, pasty, and entirely lacking in butter flavor. In the end, I just scooped the filling and crumb topping out of the crust into a bowl, and ate it like fruit crisp—which is what I should have baked in the first place.
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25 Comments:
good to know! I love Jiffy's cornbread mix (if made with extra butter), so I would have been tempted to try this out too...
jumpyfroggy at 8:55AM on 06/12/09
i am, by no means, a baker. however, i'm responsible for the apple pie every thanksgiving, because, for whatever reason, my pie kicks @ss. ;)
i've never made a pie crust from scratch. i use the pillsbury refrigerated dough. i like to roll it out a bit on a flour-dusted counter, and i throw a little flour on top. i don't roll it out much, but just enough to take some of the thickness away. produces a wonderful light and fluffy crust that has my own mother succumbing to my version over hers! :)
kristygarr at 9:11AM on 06/12/09
The America's Test Kitchen pie crust recipe (the trick is using vodka and water - the vodka evaporates during baking) is as lose to fool-proof as it can be. Maybe not damn-fool-proof, but it works for me.
gb944 at 9:20AM on 06/12/09
Pie crust is really that difficult? I don't think so. Maybe intimidating the first few times you make it, but once you find a good easy to follow recipe, it's easy peasy.
The Cook's Illustrated one is good, Gourmet had a good basic crust in it's magazine a couple of years ago and that's the one I follow. Find a well reviewed one on Epicurious and give it a go. It's really not as hard as it's reputation would suggest.
jenh718 at 9:33AM on 06/12/09
their cornbread mix rocks (i add a bit of sugar to mine), but everything else of theirs i've tried ain't so good.
french tart at 9:52AM on 06/12/09
lucy, you live in new york, right? i can show you how to make pie crust.
cybercita at 9:52AM on 06/12/09
Trader Joe's has an awesome frozen pie dough, real butter, some irregularities, looks and tastes just like homemade if I'm not making it. I have the pie dough phobia
tamidon at 10:05AM on 06/12/09
I've been making my own pie dough for awhile and although I only do it once or twice each year it's easy once you get the hang of it.
In the ready made category I can safely recommend the Pillsbury Pie Crust Sticks. They're the size of a stick of butter. Add some water as instructed (I always substitute two tbsp of orange juice for part of the water and it makes a difference in crust quality), mix and roll. Not sure if you can still buy them but they produced the best crust I've ever had short of good homemade crust.
phaelon56 at 10:13AM on 06/12/09
I second the rec for the Cook's Illustrated recipe. The vodka adds extra moisture so the dough holds together more so than a traditional crust and is therefore is easier to roll out. Excellent recipe for novices and pros alike.
charm city cupcake at 10:16AM on 06/12/09
Jiffy's muffin mixes make pretty good pancakes, esp. if you're camping (they travel great). Sure the "fruit" are those artificially flavored wax nubs, but when you're pressed for time and availability of ingredients, they'll do just fine.
And for you pie bakers, try baking your next one in a spring-form pan. I had to use one at Thanksgiving out of necessity (I got rid of some stuff before a big move, and my pie pans were included), and my pecan pie was a deep-dish wonder. You may need to use toothpicks around the inside of the edge to keep the crust from collapsing in a bit, and definitely use a drip-guard of some sort underneath. But it has a great rustic look since you can't really do the traditional crimped edge. Plus it's easier to serve since you open the spring and pop out the pie.
tshoward74 at 11:17AM on 06/12/09
Pie crust is like most difficult kitchen tasks- the more you do it the better you get. If at first...
Tallula Hamburger at 1:09PM on 06/12/09
BTW, I don't think Lucy is necessarily saying that she doesn't know how to make pie crust. She starts off with "Nothing instills fear in novice home bakers". She's just seeing if the Jiffy Mix is a viable alternative for people who don't want to step up to making a crust from scratch just yet. Apparently it isn't.
Isn't that the point of the column? I don't think she's expecting the mix to beat what a non-novice baker can put out. But it is kind of nice to know if a mix saves time/effort and/or ingredients and makes a decent product seeing as people clearly use mixes (by the Jiffy cornbread comments). Yet every time, it draws comments about how it's not hard to make from scratch. Of course it probably isn't for some people. I make cornbread from scratch, but I'm not going to hold it against Lucy if she tries the Jiffy cornbread mix next. Someone is not going to make it from scratch and they might as well know if it works.
wunami at 1:59PM on 06/12/09
Ah gack, Jiffy mix. This makes me nostalgic, in the bad way.
The lady who lived next to my grandma for 40+ years had no grandkids, and would always come over to see us when we visited (6-10 times per month) and always had a "treat" for us when she came over.
This woman was enamored with Jiffy mixes, and the treat was almost always from one of those little blue boxes. Sometimes they were edible (I was a kid with a more forgiving palate after all) but the worst was the Jiffy crust with that mock apple filling (Saltines, margarine, sugar, cinnamon and milk or egg or water). The horror. Choking down that inedible crust, which was barley distinguishable from the dry crumbly filling. Gag.
I try to still my frustration with folks who don't make pie crust, since just because I think it is easy does not make it so for others, so if it must be done, buy decent refrigerated dough. That mix? Please don't. It is nasty. It makes kids sad. Plus, even at 79 cents, the real thing is cheaper.
sadiepix at 4:03PM on 06/12/09
wunami, if you read lucy's post carefully, she clearly states that she either avoids making pie crust altogether or buys one readymade at a supermarket.
cybercita at 10:13PM on 06/12/09
Making a pie crust from scratch is by no means difficult if you have a food processor. The trick is not to overwork the dough. You want it to just barely hold together, like wet sand.
I'm a big fan of Cook's Illustrated, and I tried the vodka trick a few times. Honestly, I'm not sure that it made much difference vs. ice water.
If you have a Wegman's near you, I strongly suggest that you try their store-brand premade crust, similar to the Pillsbury unroll-and-bake product, but far superior, IMO. Cheaper, too.
salpico at 12:37PM on 06/14/09
I wish I lived by a Wegman's!!
RJ Foodie at 12:50PM on 06/14/09
That Cooks Illustrated pie crust is indeed easy and tasty! Making crust in a food processor also makes the task significantly more manageable.
candresc at 12:53PM on 06/14/09
@cybercita: I did read the post. I know what you are referring to. However, it seemed to me more of writing as someone who would go out and buy a store mix rather than fully accurately autobiographical. I believe the part about avoiding making it. But it seems like someone who buys pie crust would probably have tried Jiffy mix before already and know it doesn't work. The evaluation of the mix and making it seemed to be from someone that knows how to make it.
Whatever, I might be wrong. Maybe she doesn't know how to make it. Still, I think the point is to try out the mix, not make a mix and have people offer recipes and to teach her to make it. There are people who are definitely never going to make it from scratch. And there are people who will use mixes in a pinch. It's nice to know if one saves time or tastes decent. If you're absolutely never going to make something from a mix, then reading this column would seem kind of like a waste of time. Which might be the point (like if you're bored at work or something).
wunami at 4:23PM on 06/14/09
@tshoward74, the "artificially flavored wax nubs" are actually artificially-flavored, dried apple chunks. Jiffy says the apple chunks have a better shelf life than, say, the blueberries do in a dry mix.
LunaPierCook at 5:13AM on 06/15/09
What's wrong with reassuring novice bakers that something they think might be difficult is actually pretty easy once you get the hang of it? And then offering an easy, well tested recipe...
We are talking about the combining of a few ingredients not rocket science.
jenh718 at 11:43AM on 06/15/09
tshoward74:
The fruit is actually flavored dried apple, last time I was in the mill.
My mom grew up in Chelsea, MI where the Jiffy mill is located, so I've been in there more than a few times:)
omnomnom at 12:58PM on 06/15/09
mmmmm..... artificially flavored wax nubs.....
mejenniferd at 4:56PM on 06/16/09
I use Marie Callenders pie crusts picked up at their restaurants. I buy them specifically when I make the old fashion recipies from my Knox's Gelatine On-Camera cookbook.
Seems this crust works perfect for the Lemon Chiffon Pie and their Nesselrod Pie. Mmmmmmm.
lochaven at 5:15PM on 06/16/09
There are a couple of big mistakes made by non-crust makers when they embark on a pie crust mission.
Overworking. Mix until it holds together. THEN STOP. It is NOT supposed to be homogenous. It should still have bits of butter visible (which will ultimately cause flakiness). If pie crust is overworked, it shrinks in the oven and becomes very tough.
Not allowing the freshly-mixed dough to rest. Gently form the dough into a disk, wrap, and fridge it for at least 30 minutes to allow developed gluten to rest. Then, allow to come close to room temp but the dough should still feel cold to the touch.
The way to overcome fear of doing a specific thing in the kitchen is to do it repeatedly. Make a pie a week for the family or work associates and I'll bet at the end of a month the fear will be gone.
therealchiffonade at 9:18AM on 06/22/09
I have used Jiffy Pie Crust Mix for fifty years. It is excellent! Anyone that can't get a perfect pie is not going to get one anywhere else. I am upset that I haven't been able to find it in our area now. Has Jiffy stopped making it or can I find it somewhere?
Sewgood at 3:45PM on 09/08/09