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Kitchen Smarts: How to Decorate Pie Crust Edges

Make your pie look as good as it tastes.
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Published Oct. 24, 2018.

The key to making perfecting your pie’s appearance is at the tip of your fingers—literally. In this video, part of the “Kitchen Smarts” series on America’s Test Kitchen’s YouTube channel, test cook Joe Gitter demonstrates some creative, unique ways to decorate your pie crust edges. (He's also the brains behind this How to Make a Lattice Pie Crust video.) Here are some of his tips:

  • Chill your dough: If your dough is too warm or too cold, it will tear while you’re decorating it. Your dough should be chilled and still pliable.
  • A little pressure goes a long way: Whether you’re using the tines of a fork, the dull side of a knife, or your fingers, push down hard enough to make the decoration but not so hard that you go all the way to the through to the pie plate.
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