A few months ago I asked my lovely daughter-in-law, Becky, if she would share her late grandmother Viola’s recipe for Never Fail Pie Crust. As a result, Becky and her family graciously are allowing us that special privilege. Therefore, in today’s post, we are sharing not one, but TWO incredible recipes!
Thus, we present: Viola’s Never Fail Pie Crust and the Legend of Bob Andy Pie. (The following information has been provided by Becky & her family.)
NOTE: This recipe is best when using cold ingredients and pie dough is refrigerated until chilled.
My grandma, Viola Ruth Miller, gave me the EASIEST, foolproof, delightfully flaky pie crust recipe of all time!
My grandmother Viola has some serious street cred with pie-making. She grew up Amish and later worked for nearly 5 years at a pie pantry shop. I know everyone says their pie crust is easy…but trust me, this is the real deal. It’s not finicky if it’s over handled.
![Viola Miller's Pie dough_balls[1]](https://blessedbeyondcrazy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/dough_balls1.png)
If you mess up when rolling it out, you can start over because this stuff is like play-dough. It also freezes great for whipping up dessert in a pinch. The recipe comes from a co-worker she made drapes with back in the day. God bless you, sweet drape maker.
![Viola Miller's crust_cookbook_pie[1]](https://blessedbeyondcrazy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/crust_cookbook_pie1.png)
However, this recipe wouldn’t be complete without filling it with Bob Andy Pie. My grandma is famous for this dessert in her circle of friends and kinfolk. Growing up, she baked on Saturdays, and roughly twice a month her family enjoyed this unique cream pie custard—spiced with cinnamon and cloves.
![bob_andy_farmer[1]](https://blessedbeyondcrazy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/bob_andy_farmer1.png)
Legend tells us this pie was named after an Amish farmer’s two prize gelding workhorses. After a long day of working in the fields, he took a bite of this pie and said, “This is as good as Bob and Andy.”
However, it’s more than a good piece of pie to the Miller family. They equate the taste to memories, good times, and growing up. This particular recipe comes from Viola’s mother in law. So it’s no surprise that it’s my grandpa’s favorite dessert. He’s been enjoying it since childhood.
“You bet your booties…HOT Bob Andy pie!” said my dad, Ken Miller, as he reminisced about coming home on a weekend, and scarfing down this straight-out-of-the-oven dish with his siblings.
“It’s creamy, godly, and delicious,” he added.
My Aunt Krista describes it as the epitome of a sweet decadent dessert.
“It’s your basic, easy, home goodness you can make with stuff you have on hand,” said Krista.
My Uncle Ron would encourage you to indulge with a glass of milk or coffee.
“I could eat a whole one myself, and not be one bit ashamed,” said Ron. “There is birthday cake…but I always wanted birthday Bob Andy Pie!”
My grandma, Viola, had some classic lines. She liked to tell everyone to ‘not make a fuss’ over her for dinner, hosting, or fill in the blank. The truth is, she loved to turn around make a big deal with her generosity and hospitality for family, friends, and places she regularly volunteered. Do me a favor and make this a true blue Viola pie by making a ‘big fuss’ about the people in your life today! And of course…enjoy!
Written by: Becky (Miller) Speckhart
Last weekend I personally made Viola’s Never Fail Pie Crust and Bob Andy Pie. First of all, I can honestly say that the recipes truly are just as wonderful as Becky has described. The pie crust came together easily, and rolled out beautifully, plus it really did feel like play dough! Furthermore, the dough was super forgiving, which is good because I always seem to need that essential element!
Viola’s recipe for Never Fail Pie Crust is superb, yet uncomplicated!
The same is true for Bob Andy Pie!
Since I made my pie crust rather thick, it consequently did take longer to bake. One hour to be exact. Therefore, one recipe of Viola’s Never Fail Pie Crust will yield one top and bottom pie crust or two bottom crusts.
Slice of Bob Andy Pie!
In conclusion, Viola’s Never Fail Pie Dough recipe really does live up to its name! While there are many great pie dough recipes, this particular recipe is almost effortless to make. In addition, Bob Andy Pie is a creamy, decadent dessert and so it’s perfect to serve to family and friends.
A good pie can turn an ordinary meal into an extraordinary feast so I suggest that you keep this recipe in a safe place. Why? Because you will probably be making it often! Also, remember that this pie crust freezes well and therefore it’s a great “make-ahead” recipe.
Viola's Never Fail Pie Crust and the Legend of Bob Andy Pie
Ingredients
- Viola Miller's Never Fail Pie Crust
- 3 C flour
- 1 1/4 cup of shortening
- 5 Tablespoon water
- 1 Tablespoon white vinegar (cider vinegar will work too)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 tsp salt
- Bob Andy Pie
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 3 eggs, yolks separated from whites
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 3 heaping Tablespoons flour
- 2 1/2 to 3 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Cut shortening into flour & salt, blend until flour is moistened.
- Combine egg, water, & vinegar, add all at one time to flour mixture.
- Stir until all ingredients are well combined.
- Roll out dough on a lightly floured working surface, or between two pieces of waxed paper.
- Place upside down pie pan onto rolled out dough.
- Flip dough and pie pan right side up, fit dough to pie pan.
- Trim excess dough from sides.
- Crimp edges.
- Bake in preheated 350 degrees F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or fill with pie filling and bake accordingly.
- (Recipe makes top and bottom crust or two bottom crust)
- In a medium mixing bowl, mix together sugar, flour, cinnamon, cloves.
- Add melted butter, beaten egg yolks, and sweet milk. (May use one can Milnot evaporated milk and add enough whole milk to make a scant 3 cups.)
- Beat egg whites, just until stiff peaks form (do not over beat)
- Fold egg whites into milk mixture.
- Pour into 2 unbaked pie shells, stirring constantly so spices do not settle.
- Bake in a preheated 400 °F oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Finish baking at 325 °F approximately 30 to 45 minutes, or until center is barely still "jiggly”.
- (May take longer to bake if you make crust on the thicker side and/or if you have a deep dish style of pie pan.)
Viola Miller's Never Fail Pie Crust
Bob Andy Pie
Notes
This recipe is best when using cold ingredients and pie dough is refrigerated until chilled.
This pie crust freezes well so you can make it ahead of time.
Finally, “Thank You” Becky, and family, for allowing us to share these incredible recipes! We hope we have honored your grandma Viola’s legacy and paid her the tribute she deserves.
Linda
More great recipes:
Jennifer says
Thank you for posting this recipe!! I love to bake and pie crust has always been a challenge for me. This recipe turns out perfect every time. Its tender, flaky and delicious! I didn’t refrigerate this before using and it still came out just fine and it rolls out beautifully. Definitely my go to recipe from now on ????
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Jennifer!
Yay! We are so happy to hear that you are enjoying this recipe. We love it too! 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by and letting us know.
Linda & Anna
Amanda says
Do I need to refrigerate this pie after it’s been cooked?
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Amanda,
Yes, I would recommend refrigerating it.
Linda
Linda says
I think step 1 is reason some people are having trouble with shell falling apart. If all flour is moistened by the fat there isn’t any dry flour. A little flour should be dry to form a little gluten. Typical cutting in leaves around 1/3 to 1/2 cup dry flour. Too much dry flour makes for tough crust because too much gluten formed, but it does need some gluten. The ones coming out correct are probably stopping earlier when mixing in fat. Others are taking it literally and making sure all flour is moist as step one seems to instruct. What do u think?
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Linda,
We know that adding too much flour to any pie dough recipe tends to make it dry and/or tough. However, having said that, we think that if you make this particular pie dough according to the directions you’ll find it to be very “user-friendly” and very forgiving. It really is a great recipe. Take care and thank you for sharing your thoughts with us! Linda & Anna
Karen says
I made this last night for a quiche recipe and it turned out fantastic. This is my new “go to” recipe for pie crust. My only suggestion is that make sure all ingredients are very cold before cutting in. Also let pie dough rest in fridge – to get nice and cold prior to rolling out or you will have a melty mess on your hands. I even put my marble rolling pin in the fridge.
Fantastic!! Thanks
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Karen,
Yay! We are so happy that you like this recipe and we appreciate you stopping by and sharing your suggestions with us. I’ll go back and add them to the post. Have a wonderful day! Linda
Annette Heck says
I made this pie today. I used the wax paper and it worked pretty well. The texture of the crust was great, but though i cooked it almost an hour, the crust was falling apart when I cut it. How do i fix that?
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Annette,
I’m not sure why your crust was falling apart but here are a few links that may help explain what happened and how to fix the problem:
1) https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/baking-sos-how-rescue-10-common-pastry-problems-richard-burr
2) https://food52.com/blog/14789-kitchen-rescue-how-to-fix-10-common-pie-problems#crumbly
3) https://www.bustle.com/articles/98684-7-pie-dough-and-crust-mistakes-youre-making-when-you-bake-and-how-to-avoid-them
Hope this helps!
Linda
Gail C. says
My sister was given this no-fail pie crust recipe when her husband was participating in a heart healthy diet study for the University of Iowa in the 1970s. Her instructions included the suggestion to use a pastry cloth & rolling pin cover dusted with flour when rolling out the crust. Works great! I would think the dough would stick to wax paper. It does freeze great so I always have a few crusts in the freezer.
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Gail,
Wow, that’s so interesting that the University included this recipe in a heart-healthy diet study. The suggestion to use a pastry cloth and flour-covered rolling pin is a great idea. That would really work well. I’ve never had any problem when rolling pie dough out between waxed paper, although you can add a light dusting of flour on the surface if needed. I also like having a few frozen crusts in the freezer, especially during the holidays.
Thanks for stopping by and leaving us a message. 🙂
Linda
Jody Harris says
Hi! Thank you for these recipes! Is sweet milk… the same thing as sweetened condensed milk… or is it just evaporated milk in a can??!
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Jody,
We are so glad that you stopping by and thanks for letting us know that you enjoyed the recipes for Viola’s Never Fail Pie Crust and the recipe for Bob Andy Pie! From what I’ve read, “sweet milk” is actually just regular whole milk. Apparently, in older cookbooks, they used the term to differentiate between cultured products such as buttermilk and sour cream.
Thanks again for stopping by! Enjoy!
Linda
Tammy says
I always have a problem with my crust shrinking below the top of the pan. Does this happen with this recipe, or do you have any special tips for this?
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Tammy,
I always try to allow a little extra dough to hang around the edge of the pie pan before I trim the dough. That way I have plenty of dough to “pinch” to make a pretty edge and it helps prevent the crust from shrinking too much when baking. I also make sure that the dough is snug against the pie pan (around the edges and bottom of the pan) and make sure there aren’t any pockets of air between the dough and the pie pan. If you are baking a pie crust without any filling, be sure to take a fork and poke the dough a few times to keep the pie crust from bubbling up when it bakes, (I bake mine at 350 degrees F). I don’t seem to have any problems with the crust shrinking when I do these things.
Hope these tips help you!
Linda
Dot Carpenter says
I’ve been using this recipe for more years than I can remember. It is nothing new.
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Dot,
Yay, we are so happy to hear that you have been using this recipe for years. That just goes to prove what a fabulous recipe it really is!!! While this recipe may not be a new to you, there are some people who haven’t tried it (or even heard of it) before. I was one of them. I personally had never tried this amazing pie crust/dough recipe until my daughter in law shared it with me.
We are so glad you stopped by and confirmed that it’s a keeper!
Have a wonderful day!
Linda
Claire says
Hi can i use this recipe for a meat pie too?
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Claire,
I don’t see why not. I would certainly give a try. Please let me know how it turns out if you do try it. Thanks,
Linda
Barbara Remsen says
What size egg for the pie crust?
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Barbara,
I used one large egg in the pie crust.
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Enjoy!
Linda
Jody Barker says
Beautiful pie! How do you crimp the edges?
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi, Jody!
My mother (a former Home Economics teacher) taught me to just pinch the edges with my fingers. It’s really easy to do. I use the tip of my left index finger to serve as a “mold” and then pinch the pie dough (using my right index finger and thumb) as I move around the edge of the pie pan. Hope that helps you. 🙂
Thanks for stopping by and let me know if you have any other questions.
Linda
Larry says
Ok I made this crust today. Major fail. It looked good and rolled out fine. When I went to pick it up it would just fall apart. What did I do wrong
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Larry,
Oh, I’m sorry to hear that you had a problem. Hmmm, did you roll out the dough between two sheets of waxed paper? If not, I would suggest that you try that next time. Once the crust is rolled out between two sheets of waxed paper, I peel off the top sheet of waxed paper and place my pie pan upside down onto the dough. Next, I carefully and quickly, flip the crust and pie pan over all in one movement. Once the dough has settled into the pie pan, I peel off the remaining piece of waxed paper and finish adjusting the dough into the pan. I then trim off the excess dough around the edges. Here is a picture tutorial of another great pie crust recipe. You can see exactly what I am talking about by looking at this post. https://blessedbeyondcrazy.com/homemade-pie-crust/
Please let me know if you have any questions. I’ll be glad to help you in any way that I can. The only other thing I can think of is that perhaps your dough was a little too “rich” (too much grease). That could also cause your dough to fall apart as you try to move it into your pie pan.
Hope I’ve helped you.
Have a great day!
Linda
Ros says
Larry,
you have to make sure the water is ice cold, otherwise the mixture won’t hold together and it will get greasy, and fall apart.
I put ice cubes in my water then i mix it in the flour/shortening mixture.
Good luck!!
Margaret says
Was white or cider vinegar used in the pie crust?
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Margaret,
That’s a great question! White vinegar is preferred, although if you only have cider vinegar on hand it will work as well. I’ll go back and add that note in the recipe in case anyone else is wondering that same thing.
Thanks for stopping by and we hope you like this recipe as much as we do!
Linda
Angela Robertson says
Can lard or butter be substituted for the shortening? And would it be a 1-for-1 substitution?
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi Angela,
The recipe for Viola’s Never Fail Pie Crust recipe does actually call for shortening, however, if you are referring to using shortening in the Bob Andy Pie recipe I would probably stick with using the butter. Although having said that, I don’t think it would hurt anything other than perhaps change the flavor. Please let us know if you try it and how it turns out.
Good luck!
Linda
gwen says
Thanks!
Denise says
What type of flour is the best to use for this recipe?
William Clark says
I was already to try your recipe when I noticed you left out the listing of the ingredients for the filling. You start out with mixing flour, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, but not how much.
Blessed Beyond Crazy says
Hi William,
Hey, I just went back and checked on this particular recipe and the ingredients are all there, as well as the directions. Because of the particular recipe card plugin we use, I was unable to highlight the name of each recipe. All of the ingredients (and the amounts) for the Bob Andy Pie are listed directly underneath the pie crust ingredients. If you look closely, you will see the title: Viola Miller’s Never Fail Pie Crust. If you scroll down you will also see the title: Bob Andy Pie with all of the ingredients for the filling there. Same is true for the directions. First the directions for the pie crust is listed, then the directions for Bob Andy Pie. Unfortunately, we are unable to insert two separate recipe cards in one post. Otherwise I would have done that.
Hope this help! If possible, I would suggest that you print out the recipe and highlight each separate recipe title.
Sorry for the confusion. Please let me know if you need further assistance. I’ll be glad to help you any way I can.
Hope you enjoy this wonderful pie!
Thanks for stopping by and leaving me a note.
Linda