Make It - Bake It - How to Blind Bake a Pie Crust

I bake A LOT of pies for family functions and holiday celebrations.   I have tried many ways to blind-bake a pie crust - beans, rice, another pie plate.....  I have come up with a foolproof way to blind bake a pie crust-just in time for Thanksgiving pie season.  It's simple, but works everytime - here's what you need:

That's it - a large glass mixing bowl (oven safe - like Anchor Hocking) and aluminum foil.  Make your crust and preheat your oven.  Line the bottom of the mixing bowl with aluminum foil and place the bowl on top of your crust.  Bake according to pie instructions.  Remove bowl and foil after recommended baking time.  Fill pie crust and continue baking.  Simple - hopefully it's free because you already have foil and a glass mixing bowl.

Make/Bake Ahead tip:  mix up pie crust and freeze as disks or roll out into pie plates, wrap and freeze.

Need some recipes for pies that would require blind-baking?  Here are a couple of my holiday favorites:

King Arthur's Pie Crust recipe - I make this in my Kitchenaid upright mixer

Williams-Sonoma Blueberry Crumble Pie - this works with apples too!

Williams-Sonoma Classic Pumpkin Pie - the BEST pumpkin pie (in my opinion)

Williams-Sonoma Maple-Pecan Pie

foil image credit