15 Best Ways To Use Up Leftover Pie Crust

Pie crust is a staple that every baker should know how to make. This pastry is assembled by combining fat and flour with a scant amount of salt and water. Once the pie has been rolled out and shaped into a crust, you can trim your edges with a sharp knife. But then comes the important question — what do you do with the trimmings you have left over? 

If you have a few inches of scrap dough, you may not be able to do much. But, if you save your pie crust after several recipes, you should have a fair amount to work with. To store your scraps, stick them together in plastic wrap for at least thirty minutes to slack the gluten and solidify the fat, and up to two days. You can also freeze the dough for up to a month if you don't bake pies as frequently. When you're ready to work your pie crust, you can let it sit for about half an hour to make it easier to work with. There are a ton of different uses for leftover pie crust, many of which you may have never expected. Here are some of our favorites.

We vividly remember making little cinnamon rolls with leftover pie crust. While these cinnamon rolls won't have the same puff as a Pillsbury Grands cinnamon roll, they can curb your sweet tooth — and prevent you from throwing your scrap dough in the trash. 

We love this pie hack because you don't have to have a lot of pie crust to make it. Start by rolling your leftover crust out thin on a clean surface. From there, you can use a pastry brush to swipe on butter before sprinkling on the cinnamon and sugar filling. We like to use a mix of both white and brown sugar for cinnamon rolls, but you could also substitute with raw sugar like Turbinado as well. Then, roll the entire log up and slice it into small pieces. 

After the pieces are cut, you can bake them in an oven-safe dish at the same temperature as your pie. It's important to remember that because these pieces are significantly smaller than the pie crust (and contain sugar, which can burn more rapidly), you'll need to take them out of the oven sooner than your pie. 

Quiches are an excellent idea to make for breakfast. Not only are they filling to eat, but they are also customizable to whatever vegetables, meat, and cheese you have on hand. 

To make your mini quiches, roll the sheet of dough out thinly. Then, using a 2½-inch pastry cutter, slice the dough into uniform rounds. This size is ideal for a mini muffin tin because it will sit perfectly inside each well and keep the filling from spilling over — plus, they're easy to eat in one bite. Spray the mini muffin tin with cooking spray to prevent sticking before placing each dough round into the pan. Pressing the dough into the sides of each well is important since this will allow for maximum space when you're ready to pour in the filling. Bake your quiches in the oven for about a half hour or until the crust is golden and the filling is set. 

What is the logical way to use up leftover pie crust? Just make more pies, of course. Hand-pies are an excellent option to make if you make more pie dough than you should have or have been collecting scraps across several recipes. The texture of these hand pies is going to be exactly like if you were to make a whole pie. They're just more portable and easy to eat. Use a 5¼-inch round cutter to slice out your pie dough. Add a couple of tablespoons of filling into each center and fold in half to seal the pastry. From there, you can press the edges of the crust closed, cut a few steam vents in the top, egg-wash, and bake until golden brown.

You don't only have to eat the hand pies baked. Our recipe for fried apple hand pies combines fritters and pies together for the ultimate collab. Fry the pies in shallow oil until golden brown before serving.

Palmiers are unique cookies with a very distinct shape, unlike any other cookies. Typically, they're made with puff pastry for a flakey and layer appearance, but this version uses pie crust instead. Combine the scraps, roll the dough into an 8-inch square, and top with melted butter and sugar. From there, wrap the sides of the dough into one another so the cookies resemble a heart-shaped log. It's important to roll the cookies tight enough that they won't uncoil as they bake. 

Once the dough is chilled and ready to cut, the individual pieces can be placed on a baking sheet and cooked until dark brown. You can also push down the cookies with a spatula to widen them or leave them in the standard French palmier shape. You can also experiment with adding different fillings, like chocolate and cream cheese, or stick to the classic sugar filling. 

Pot pies are another food typically made with puff pastry. But making it with pie crust will suffice if you don't have a spare package in your freezer. Roll out the pieces of pie crust into circles large enough to fill ceramic ramekins or the inside of a muffin tin. If you only have enough for the base or the cover of the pie, either will suffice. 

You can use pre-made pot pie filling or make your own chicken pot pie recipe with vegetables, mushrooms, and a creamy soup base. Since it's integral for the proper pot pie to have a flaked crust, placing your dough back in the fridge after you've balled up the scraps will help keep the fat solid rather than letting it soak back into the filling. You should also be prepared to coat the crust in an egg wash for the perfect golden hue. 

Everyone knows pop tarts: the pastries that taste more like dessert than breakfast. If you're making your own pop tarts with leftover pie dough, you have control over how sweet you make them — and you can experiment with some out-of-this-world flavors. 

Start by rolling the dough out into a sheet and slicing 3-inch by 4-inch rectangles. You'll need two for each pop tart. You'll also need to apply a thin layer of water to the edges of the pastry to ensure the layers stick together. Then, fill each with your chosen filling. We recommend fruit preserves; strawberry, peach, and apricot all work well and complement the thin, sweet glaze you will put on top of the pastry after baking. For the ideal color, add an egg wash to the dough and allow it to cool completely before glazing. This glaze must include corn syrup to help it set at room temperature — a quintessential component of the pop tart pastry. 

Sugar cookies are the perfect creative dessert that is kid-friendly and delicious to eat. Plus, your pie crust cookies are ready to eat in less than ten minutes!

Start by rolling the leftover dough scraps into a ball and refrigerating the dough with plastic wrap. When you're ready to bake, roll the dough out and cut out the cookies with cutters or the rim of a glass. To ensure the cookies stay flat rather than puffing up, poke each a few times with a fork. Then, you can add an egg wash to each of the cookies and sprinkle sanding sugars or spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. Alternatively, you can also make a savory cookie by integrating some rosemary or herbs into the dough before rolling it out. 

Since these cookies are very thin, it's very easy for them to burn. Be sure to pull the cookies out once they're lightly brown before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.