I had seen a Martha Stewart show, wherein Martha had recommended that you could make cookies out of leftover pie dough. I tried this a couple of times without success with a crust recipe I use for quiche (recipe from my father-in-law, not Martha Stewart), but the cookies really just tasted like…quiche crust. No amount of sugar and cinnamon could make them taste like cookies. Perhaps this was because the recipe was made using shortening and not butter.
cutting out cookies. I often use a small wire strainer to powder the surface with flour or sugar. I'm never satisfied when I fling it around using my fingers like they do on tv.
Then, when I started using pâte sucrée as a crust for tart tatin, I found that I again had leftover pie dough. I would lay rolled out dough over the hot dish of bubbling apples, and it would basically melt into the right shape. This left me with several handfuls of dough which couldn’t be rechilled because it was already partially melted. So I folded in more sugar, cut them out, and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar liberally over each. For extra measure, a pea-sized bit of butter was added to the top just before they were put into the oven. Because a little bit of butter never hurt anyone. To my great surprise, these cookies turned out edible and my husband actually named the “pie cookies” his favourite cookie, above even chocolate chip and ginger molasses cookies.
extra dot of butter on top makes a big difference. I only needed ~1 pat of butter for the small batch.
After much grumbling (“ugh, they’re not real cookies, I prefer snickerdoodles, blahblahblah”), I was eventually persuaded to make a whole batch of pie cookies, and not just from leftovers. I was still reluctant, though, and did not write down my additions to the pâte sucrée recipe, so the first couple of batches came out differently. Some had more butter, some were baked longer, etc.. I hadn’t made them for a while, and couldn’t remember what I’d done. Once I used iodized table salt instead of my usual kosher salt, which resulted in salty cookies (husband didn’t notice, but I couldn’t stomach them). The extra dot of butter, in addition to improving the overall flavour, helps to hold the sugar and cinnamon on the top of the cookie, but too much butter resulted in brown cookies that weren’t as flakey.
pie cookies. or "petite gâteaux seche au pâte sucrée â Martha Stewart." I think.
Pie Cookies
Based on Pâte Sucrée (sweet pastry dough) from the Martha Stewart Show
2 ½ c. flour
½ t. salt
6 T. sugar
1 t. cinnamon
2 egg yolks
1 c. + 2 T. butter, cold/frozen, cut into small cubes
~ ¼ c. water, ice cold (use more if needed)
In a large food processor, combine flour, salt, sugar. Pulse to mix.
Add butter. Pulse until it resembles cornmeal.
Add egg yolks, one by one, pulsing.
Add water until the mixture comes together when pressed together. Do not overwork dough.
Empty onto a large piece of seran wrap and divide into two lumps. Form each lump into a ball and then flatten into a disc. Wrap each well with seran wrap and chill for at least an hour and not longer than two days.
Roll out dough. Sprinkle with extra sugar and cinnamon and a small dab of butter on each.
Use cookie cutters, bake at 375°F ~11-20 min..
