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Pie Crust Cookies

December 10, 2014 by Carrie Sellman

Pie Crust Cookies! Pie crust coated in cinnamon sugar and rolled into pinwheel cookies for the holidays. A Christmas cookie tradition. | Carrie Sellman for TheCakeBlog.com

Pie Crust Cookies! Pie crust coated in cinnamon sugar and rolled into pinwheel cookies for the holidays. A Christmas cookie tradition.

Pie Crust Cookies! Pie crust coated in cinnamon sugar and rolled into pinwheel cookies for the holidays. A Christmas cookie tradition. | Carrie Sellman for TheCakeBlog.com

We all have those family recipes – the ones that are made year after year, lovingly passed from one generation to the next – and scarfed down in about 3 seconds flat.  The ones that you’d throw down with your own sister for, if she tried to snatch the last one.  This is one of those recipes.  We affectionately call these little babies Pie Crust Cooookies!

I can’t claim these mini swirls of flaky cinnamon-sugar-goodness as my own, but that’s the great thing about being married.  What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine.  You see, this recipe comes from Mr. Sellman’s side of the family.  I’m pretty certain every time we travel to visit his family, my mother-in-law has a bowl of these waiting for us.  At least, I generally like to think they are for me too.  But Mr. Sellman tends to believe the entire bowl was created for him and him alone.

Pie Crust Cookies! Pie crust coated in cinnamon sugar and rolled into pinwheel cookies for the holidays. A Christmas cookie tradition. | Carrie Sellman for TheCakeBlog.com

Thank goodness this family recipe was lovingly passed on to me because I cannot count the batches of pie crust cookies that I’ve made over the years.  Thank you Nana! We love you!  And as each batch disappears, the recipe requests pour in.  Up until now, there was no written recipe with actual measurements to give, just a general technique.  Years ago, I tried to explain it all to my sister so that she could bake up a batch of her own… but something got VERY LOST in our recipe telephone-game.  She called, confused and frustrated, with a long log of baked pie crust which was crumbling into a flaky mess when she tried to cut it.  The big takeaway for me here – emphasize the order of events.  Brush.  Sprinkle.  Roll.  Cut.  THEN bake!

Pie Crust Cookies! Pie crust coated in cinnamon sugar and rolled into pinwheel cookies for the holidays. A Christmas cookie tradition. | Carrie Sellman for TheCakeBlog.com

Now, let the popping begin!  These little guys define ‘poppable’ because before you know it, you’ve popped the entire batch right into your pie hole.  One.  Two. Three.  Twenty!  Have I just eaten an entire pie crust in cookie form?  Quite possibly!  But it’s Christmas, so we’ll just pass right over THAT little detail and go back to pie-crust-cookie-eating.

One year, I started a grass roots campaign to rename this little family treasure.  Pie Crust Cookies just seemed to say too much.  Let’s leave a little to the imagination so we can savor the warmth of the cinnamon, and be pleasantly surprised by the delicate flake of golden brown pie crust caramelized with sweet, sweet sugar.  We came up with the name Pauline’s Pinwheels, giving credit where credit is due, to Mr. Sellman’s grandmother who originally made these from the extra scraps of left over pie crust.  Who knew that decades later we’d be making batches of pie crust (or purchasing ready-made pie crust, shhh) just to make these cookies.  Unfortunately, the new name never stuck.  And while I sat around pondering the perfect name – the bowl of Pie Crust Cookies disappeared.

Pie Crust Cookies! Pie crust coated in cinnamon sugar and rolled into pinwheel cookies for the holidays. A Christmas cookie tradition. | Carrie Sellman for TheCakeBlog.com

No matter what you call them – I hope you give them a try.  I have a feeling you’ll stand guard at the Pie Crust Cookie bowl for decades to come.

Pie Crust Cookies! Pie crust coated in cinnamon sugar and rolled into pinwheel cookies for the holidays. A Christmas cookie tradition. | Carrie Sellman for TheCakeBlog.com

Print

Pie Crust Cookies

Print Recipe

Pie Crust Cookies! Pie crust coated in cinnamon sugar and rolled into pinwheel cookies for the holidays. A Christmas cookie tradition.

  • Author: Carrie Sellman

Ingredients

  • 2 pie crusts (i.e. top and bottom) made from scratch or ready-to-bake
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • 6 tablespoons butter, melted

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450.
  2. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and set aside.  Two trays, if you have them, will help the baking process move even faster.
  3. In a small bowl, mix sugar and cinnamon together.  Set aside.
  4. Roll out one pie crust into a rectangle.
  5. Brush surface with melted butter.
  6. Sprinkle entire surface with a light coating of cinnamon sugar mixture.
  7. Cut rectangle into four equal squares.
  8. Roll up one square of pie crust into a little log.  Repeat with remaining three pieces.
  9. Slice log into 1/2 inch pieces, trying not to press down too much, flattening the log.
  10. Transfer slices onto baking tray, gently reshaping into rounds if needed.
  11. Lightly brush each cookie with a little dab of melted butter.
  12. Bake 7 to 9 minutes until golden brown but not burnt.  Burnt sugar does not taste good!  Remove from oven and let cool.
  13. Repeat entire process with the second pie crust.
  14. Serve and enjoy!  These will be delicious for about a week, but they won’t last that long.

Notes

  • If you have excess sugar that pools around the bottom of the cookie after baking, you’ve sprinkled too much.  Go lighter on the sugar in the next batch

Pie Crust Cookies! Pie crust coated in cinnamon sugar and rolled into pinwheel cookies for the holidays. A Christmas cookie tradition. | Carrie Sellman for TheCakeBlog.com

MORE CHRISTMAS COOKIES TO TRY:
Decorated Sugar Cookies
Snow Globe Cookies
Snickerdoodle Cupcakes
Gingerbread Cupcakes
Cream Tart Tree Cake

December 10, 2014 by Carrie Sellman

Carrie Sellman , Founder & Editor

Carrie Sellman is the Founder & Editor of The Cake Blog. Her work has been published in BRIDES Magazine, Country Living Magazine and featured online at People, Today, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Redbook, Real Simple, TLC, The Cooking Channel and more.

connect with Carrie :

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Comments

  1. Nadine Woods says

    December 10, 2014 at 1:23 pm

    When we were little ,when Mom made pies (or Granny) we always had the left over pie-dough made into these very same “cookies…” Loved them then and if there is left-overs..love them now! Thank you for sharing these delicious memory’s… Nadine

  2. Julie Blackmon says

    December 10, 2014 at 7:29 pm

    These sound delish – I’ll have to try them! Tell your hubby hi!

  3. Thalia @ butter and brioche says

    December 11, 2014 at 3:13 am

    These little cookies look and sound incredibly delicious… and moorish too! I have a feeling if I made the recipe they wouldn’t last very long!

  4. Azu says

    December 11, 2014 at 5:24 pm

    These cookies look delicious! I’m sure I would eat the entire batch of cookies in a sitting too.

  5. Meg @ Noming thru Life says

    December 11, 2014 at 6:11 pm

    Easy AND delicious – love it, want it, YES!

  6. Colleen says

    December 23, 2014 at 4:02 pm

    In my family, we call them “doh-dohs,” probably because they’re made with pie dough. Hmmm…I’ve never written it down before but I guess that’s how it sounds!

  7. Shelly Guevara says

    December 23, 2014 at 5:19 pm

    Carrie, your Pie Crust Cookies were easy and delicious… a huge hit! Thank you for sharing. Also, I enjoy your blog and missed your 12 cakes of Christmas. Maybe it will make a comeback next year. Thank you again! 🙂

  8. Terri says

    December 26, 2014 at 5:39 pm

    When I was little, my mom made them from the pie scraps. We called them “Belly Buttons” and they never lasted long!

  9. DJ says

    September 23, 2016 at 5:43 am

    What are the dimensions of the pie crust when rolled out ? How thick/thin is the dough ?

  10. Codruta says

    December 21, 2018 at 12:35 pm

    Hi!

    Is the oven temp correct @450? 350…maybe!

    Thank you,
    Codruta

    • Carrie Sellman says

      December 23, 2018 at 8:25 am

      The oven temp is correct – 450F. Enjoy!

  11. Jennifer says

    August 25, 2019 at 6:46 am

    My favorite cookie EVER. They developed in our family just as you described. made from pie crust trimmings. We called them twirlies.
    Now my sister makes them for me every Christmas. ❤️❤️❤️

  12. Virginia Rabor Moran says

    May 10, 2020 at 5:57 pm

    Can’t wait to do this! Have you tried it with brown sugar? Thanks for sharing.

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