I remember being about my daughter’s current age, eight, and being taught by my paternal grandmother how to make pie crusts. My favorite part was helping her get the flour from the Hoosier cabinet’s flour bin by turning the handle to sift the flour into the container to be measured. My second favorite part was getting to make mini cinnamon rolls from the leftover pie crust.
After showing me how to make the traditional shortening and ice water crust, she had me help trim the excess crust from the edges of every pie pan with a butter knife. As the excess fell onto her work surface, she would add it to the growing pile of trimmings.
As the pies were baking in the oven, she took the pile of dough trimmings and formed a puck of dough, wrapped it in wax paper, and placed it in the refrigerator to chill for a while. As the last of the pies were baking, she removed the dough from the refrigerator, let it warm up some (if there had been lots of pies to bake), and rolled it out.
When it was about a 1/4″ or less thick, she covered it with oleo (grandma did not use butter), cinnamon, and sugar. She then gently folded over about a 1/4″ or so on the long side and continued to form a long roll with the cinnamon and sugar tucked safely on the inside. She trimmed the uneven ends off the roll. Then, she sliced the roll into evenly sized pieces about 1/2 ” deep. She then would lay the slices cut-side up into a lightly greased pie pan, leaving a little space in between each to allow them to slightly rise as they baked.
Once the pan was full or the roll was gone, she would place them in a 350 degree F oven to bake until they were lightly golden brown.
There really is not a “recipe” for these pie crust cinnamon rolls. Just use you favorite pie crust dough, softened butter or oleo (enough to cover rolled out dough), sugar, and cinnamon (to taste).
Roll up and cut like into 1/2″+/- slices, place in a pie pan to bake at 350 degrees F until done (20 minutes +/-). The more you have in the pan the longer they take to bake…
These tasty treats are a great way to use extra pie crust dough, so it won’t go to waste (albeit, they may go to my waist).
Enjoy!