Shortbread pie crust tips?

Any ideas or tips for making a shortbread pie crust? Having never made shortbread, I am a little intimidated. I’ve been told it’s simple, but often the simplest of recipes are the toughest. To make me more nervous, this is for Thanksgiving and one of the guests will be my hostess’s British mum who apparently now resides in a small Southern town and is well-known for her shortbread.

FWIW, I have been able to purchase unsalted Irish butter (which I assume is richer than the usual supermarket fare). The filling will be the Fudge-Pecan Pie recipe on epicurious.com.

Thanks for the tips. Looks like I have a place to start.

Brush egg white over the crust before blind baking. This will seal it from the filling, so it will stay crisp.

For really good shortbread substitute regular plain (not sweet) rice flour for half of the a-p flour. Some swear by corn starch in the short bread but I find the white rice flour gives the best texture. Bob's Red Mill makes the rice flour.

I've made a tart using this shortbread tart-shell recipe and found it really easy to work with. Good enough to eat on its own as a cookie. Made a tasty prune/peach tart this summer.

Link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/rec...

Try the recipe in the New Joy of Cooking (the edition that came out in the late '90's). I've used it many times for the lemon tart from the same book.