Chai Spiced Caramel Pie Crust Cookies — How to Use Leftover Pie Crust

Try this interesting twist on a common way to use leftover pie crust!

If you’re like me, this is the time of year that you’re baking more pies than any other. Do you make your own pie crust ?(You should — it’s not that hard!) you will inevitably have more pie crust than you need. Try as might, I’ve never had consistent results trying to make a single pie crust that turns out as good as a bigger recipe. Oh, and I also like having extra pie crust. So there’s that.

You can make pie crust cookies with cinnamon and sugar, either by rolling them up individually into longer cookies (that’s how my grandma used to do it — she called them “rolly pollies.”) or you can roll out a square, spread with cinnamon and sugar, roll up and cut like cinnamon rolls. If you like cinnamon and sugar and butter, there’s really no better cookie.

But after I recently made some pies (pumpkin if you’re wondering) I made some pie crust cookies, but a bit differently. I made them with dark brown sugar and added some spices to make them chai flavored. The brown sugar caramelizes and becomes sticky thanks to a brushing of heavy cream. And in addition to cinnamon, you get warm spices like clove and ginger.

But I cheated and used pumpkin pie spice, with a pinch of cardamom. It’s not exactly the same, but I’ve got plenty of pumpkin spice on hand right now, and it’s easier than measuring a bunch of individual spices. Authentic chai? No. Delicious? Absolutely.

There are other ideas if you’re looking how to use leftover pie crust. You could make a couple of turnovers. But then you have to come up with something to fill them with, and at that point you might as well just make another pie. These are easier, familiar, and don’t require much effort.