Cut In

To work butter, margarine or shortening into dry ingredients.  As you cut in the fat, it will begin to clump with the dry ingredients.  Use a pastry blender, lifting it up and down with a rocking motion, until the particles are the desired size, usually coarse or fine crumbs or the size of a pea.  If you don't have a pastry blender, hold a table knife in each hand and pull them through the ingredients in opposite directions, or use your fingertips, working quickly so the heat of your fingers doesn't soften the fat.