You Don't Need a Food Processor for the Perfect Pie Crust—Use This $8 Tool Instead

Old school home bakers will insist that a fork can easily cut butter into flour to make pastry dough. But this method is notoriously hard on the wrists. Nowadays, many bakers think the easiest way to combine your pie crust ingredients is to use a food processor. However, there is a middle ground between the laborious fork and the expensive food processor: A pastry cutter. 

A heavy duty stainless steel pastry cutter breaks up the big chunks of butter while folding in the flour at the same time. The result is  pastry dough in which the pieces of butter have been reduced to the size of pebbles, and uniformly distributed in the flour. For just $8, this stainless steel pastry cutter will help you make a great pie crust, without the help of a food processor. 

To buy: Spring Chef Pastry Cutter, $8 (originally $9) at amazon.com 

An effective pastry cutter like this one is heavy duty enough to cut through cold butter. The five sturdy and thick stainless steel blades do most of the work for you. They are set on a convex angle, so you can rock it back and forth over your dough with ease. Because this is still manual labor, the soft rubber handle makes it easier to hold for long periods of time. 

While a pastry cutter will make dough for all kinds of pastry from pie crust to biscuits and pizza dough, it can also be used for many other cooking tasks. It’s ideal for cutting up avocado for guacamole, pureeing baby food, and mashing potatoes. Once you’re done using it, either rinse it clean or pop it in the dishwasher for easy clean up. 

This pastry cutter has earned over 15,900 perfect ratings thanks to its almost indestructible design. “The thing is built like a tank. The blades of the blender are not sharp, but they are designed such that they easily cut into frozen butter and blend well without bending,” wrote one shopper. 

“The handle is comfortable in my hand and cleaning it is easy with a bit of soapy hot water. I have also used this to mash potatoes as well, and it does a good job,” another reviewer wrote. 

If you don’t own a food processor, and your hands and wrists are tired from mashing pastry dough together with a fork, you need a pastry cutter. At just $8, now is the perfect time to snag this one.

At the time of publishing, the price was $8.