All my life, I have never understood the fuss over pie crust. I have heard people complain that it’s difficult to make or finicky, but this was not something I had ever experienced. Recipes that required pages of instructions and multiple refrigerations and par-baking-what did that even mean? And store-bought pie crust? To this day, I’m not sure I’ve eaten it. Why buy store-bought when you can make it yourself?

This is not because I am some sort of pie crust wizard who chills butter to the perfect temperature and rolls out the perfect dough every time. No, this is because, my mother has, for my entire life, possessed the EASIEST PIE CRUST RECIPE EVER!! She can recite it from memory, not because she has made it hundreds of times (although she has), but because it has only four ingredients. It comes with no special instructions, but I’ll give you a few tips here.

And best of all? It comes out perfect, every time! It is crisp, it is flaky, and it is the perfect base for any pie you might make this time of the year. My mom’s classics are pecan and pumpkin! If that’s not enough of an endorsement for you, take it from my dad who says “Your mom’s pie crust is the best!”

Technique: After you have made the dough (recipe follows) form into a ball. It will kind of naturally form a ball on its own. Divide ball in half (this makes 2 crusts) and roll each half between two sheets of wax paper (I used parchment which will work in a pinch but wax is better). It does not need to be perfect, just a relatively roundish shape. It should be easy to achieve a round shape if you start from a ball. When you are ready to put it into your pie pan, simply remove the top sheet of wax paper and flip the crust that is still attached to the paper over into the pan. Slowly peel back the wax paper to reveal your crust resting perfectly in your pie pan. If the crust falls apart on this step, simply form back into a ball and try again. Since there is no butter in this crust, you don’t have to worry about handling it too much as it will remain stable at room temp.

Do ahead: This crust can be balled and wrapped tightly in plastic wrap in the fridge for a few days. I have never frozen it, although maybe my mom can comment on that. However, if you freeze it, you will have to thaw and, at that point, you could probably just mix a new crust in much less time than thawing.