I would love to find a good tart dough recipe that is flaky and tender but doesn't require the addition of vegetable shortening. I'd rather not use it, but every time I've replaced it with butter I end up with a tart that's hard as rock!:( Any advice would be helpful.
Thank you

The absolute best for a flaky perfect pie crust is using butter In the 40s and 50s when butter was at a premium here in Canada, pastry cooks used Crisco or such and you can really get a good pie crust with Crisco.. Don't know what you are doing wrong, maybe not using enough and it has to be extremely cold when you are cutting it in to the flour mixture. You must be sure not to overwork your dough, that is a sure way to make it tough. Mix adding very cold water as well. Everything cold !

I would would use a quarter pound of butter. After mixing, roll up in saran wrap and chill completely before using it. This will ensure you get a really great pie crust ! Mine are lovely this way and I use it for meat pies and sweet pies.

Ms tickle