An easy, delicious pie crust

I never used to be a fan of baking. It made the kitchen hot and took too much time, in my opinion. I was happy frying stuff up, or tossing salads, and fully ignoring my oven. All that changed the year I had an unemployed French roomate, who had just finished her degree and was looking for a job. She was having a hard time in the job market, and consequently had nothing to do all day but bake. She came from a long line of excellent bakers, and every day I would come home from class to a new pie or cake; from then on, I've been hooked. Here is the recipe she taught me for a perfect tart crust, which i use in a pie pan so I can save the leftover crust for mini-pies or cobbler topping.

- 1 cup flour (pastry flour is preferred, but not required)

- 100g butter (7 tablespoons, or almost one whole stick), cubed and at room temperature

- 1 egg yolk

- a pinch of salt

- 2-3 tbsp. cold water

Put the flour in a bowl and make a well in the middle. Add the butter, egg yolk and salt and start to mix them with a fork -- my roomate used only wooden utensils, but a fork does the job. It is easiest to mash the mix together, like mashed potatoes. When it is well mixed it will look a little bit like corn meal. Then, add 2 tablespoons of cold water and mix with your hands. If the mixture seems too dry, add the third tablespoon of water.

This is where my approach really starts to differ. A very thorough baker will take this dough, wrap it in plastic, and let it sit in the refrigerator for about a half hour to allow the butter to harden, then roll it out and line the pie pan that way. I, however, am much too impatient for that. Sometimes I will put the dough in the fridge for about 15 minutes, but usually I just start tearing pieces off and flattening them into the pie pan. Not very professional, I know, but the crust still comes out just fine. Your tongue and your stomach won't know the difference.

When the dough is in the pie crust, poke a few holes in it with a fork and put it in the oven for a few minutes at a high temperature. Then, add whatever your filling is and go from there. Your pie will taste amazing and you can tell everyone you made the crust yourself!