The Clever Butter Trick That Will Make Making Pies So Much Easier

I can whip up a homemade roux for gumbo without breaking a sweat and bake delicious cookies that disappear in seconds. Yet, when it comes to making pies—my absolute favorite dessert—I freeze like butter in a too-cold crust. There’s something about pie that feels daunting. Is it the delicate, flaky crust? The fear of making a runny, bland filling? Whatever it may be, pies have always seemed more art than science, but the key to making the best pies may lie in the latter, and that's where I am looking to help me get over my fear of making pies.

Cook's Illustrated is a renowned culinary magazine offering meticulously tested recipes, cooking tips and product reviews. The brand is known for its scientific approach to all things food, and they shared a baking tip on Instagram (@cooksillustrated) that I ran across just in time for Thanksgiving pie-making.

Related: I Tried the Pie Crust Martha Stewart Calls 'As Dependable As They Come'

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"Make baking easier this season with this quick and easy tip!⁠" they wrote in the caption of their Instagram post. Anything to make baking easier is right up my alley!

According to Cook's Illustrated, they received a butter-cutting tip from Marianna Crowley of Sudbury, Massachusettes who said that when you need to mix butter into dry ingredients, you should divide the butter into slabs, roll it in flour, and then slice it into the cubes you need. This will keep the butter from sticking to the knife, making it easier to slice and transfer to your bowl of flour.

While this may not completely cure my fear of making pies, it's a great tip to make my baking journey—whether I'm making pies or biscuits—much easier!

"I like to use a cheese grater on cold butter," someone commented on the Instagram post. That's a great method to use when you want small pieces of butter in your recipe, like when making biscuits.

Speaking of biscuits, another biscuit maker weighed in on the post. "I freeze my butter, dice it, dust in flour and put in a food processor for making biscuits then freeze the whole thing again before forming my biscuits," another person commented. That's some serious dedication!

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