B.B.
I can't speak to whether using vegan butter will work, but this is the recipe I use, and you can certainly substitute shortening for the butter:
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water
Procedures
Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.
Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400F. Place oven rack in lowest position and place a rimmed baking sheet on bottom rack. Roll out chilled dough into a circle, about 13" diameter, using two sheets of wax paper. Use the amount of flour that is right for the consistency of your dough. Place the rolled-out dough on the wax paper in the fridge for 15 minutes, then transfer to a pie plate; trim and crimp edges. Line dough with tinfoil and weight with pie weights, beans, rice or coins. (Note: 1-lb. of dried chick peas works great!) Bake 15 minutes; remove foil and weights (just lift all 4 corners of the tinfoil up and out of the pie crust); bake 5-10 more minutes, or till crust is golden brown and crisp. Cool slightly. If filling with pumpkin pie filling, place hot filling in warm crust.
___________________________________________________
The key here is the vodka, it will keep the dough from forming too much gluten and getting tough, but the vast majority of the alcohol will burn off in the oven. It is the easiest pie dough I have ever worked with.
As an alternative, this would be a great crust for pumpkin pie, and you could try the vegan butter here:
Ingredients:
6 ounces gingersnap cookies
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 ounce unsalted butter, melted
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine the gingersnaps, brown sugar, and ginger in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the cookies are fine crumbs. Drizzle the butter into the crumb mixture. Pulse 8 to 10 times to combine.
Press the gingersnap mixture into the bottom, up the sides, and just over the lip of a 9-inch glass pie dish. Place on a half sheet pan and bake the crust for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool crust at least 10 minutes before filling.
Good luck!
