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Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa and salt.
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Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives, leaving small peas sized pieces of butter throughout the mixture.
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Add egg and vanilla and mix together only enough to make a dough form.
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Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for a half hour before rolling out.
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You can make your dough the previous day but make sure you take it out of the fridge for 10 minutes to warm slightly before rolling out.
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Roll the dough into a 12 inch round and place in the bottom of a 9 inch tarte pan or pie plate.
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You will need to blind bake this crust for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F before adding the filling. Blind baking is essential so that the bottom crust will not get soggy. Let the dough hang a half inch past the rim of the pan to allow for shrinkage as the pastry shell bakes. Any excess can be trimmed off when the shell is still hot out of the oven.
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To blind bake a crust, simply place a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil over the dough and cover the bottom of the pie plate with baking weights. (Marbles, dry beans, peas, rice or barley work just as well as anything else.)