And now, for a break from our regularly scheduled programming (appropriate, since I’m later with this post than I’ve ever been before): This is not a recipe you’ll find in Nonnie’s cookbook. This is not even a recipe, really. This is more of a method, a technique, a way of life. A practice that will keep you from throwing away errant scraps of pie dough ever again, provided you’re, like, the kind of person who is always making pies and letting them cool on the windowsill.

There were times in my childhood where I’m pretty sure I asked my mom if she’d make a pie just so I could get these cookies, teeny spirals of leftover dough filled with cinnamon sugar (heavy on the cinnamon). Why I didn’t just ask her to turn a recipe of pie dough into cookies straightaway, I’ll never know—but it’s probably because it wouldn’t have seen right.

See, pie dough cookies aren’t an end in and of themselves. They’re a delightful bonus, a frugal pat on the back, a way of turning one dessert into two. Delicious as they may be—and for an inveterate crust-lover like me (give me the ends of your brownies, the outsides of your dinner rolls, your huddled lattices yearning to breathe free), they’re just about the best thing ever—making them for their own sake would defeat their purpose.

So I’m not going to tell you to make a pie right now just so you can have a little batch of these waiting in your toaster oven. (You have to bake them in the toaster oven; it’s the law. And presumably, you’ve already got an actual pie taking up precious actual oven real estate.) I will, however, tell you that if you’ve got any pie-related plans, you might just want to bulk up your crust recipe by, oh, half, just to make sure you’ll have enough overhang for a good portion of pie crust cookies. Trust me on this one.

Pie Crust Cookies
Leftover scraps of pie dough
1 teaspoon cinnamon (or more, depending on how much leftover crust you have)
1.5 teaspoons sugar (ditto)

Preheat toaster oven to 425. Smush leftover bits of pie crust together to make a little blob, then roll out blob until dough is thin but not too thin—somewhere in the 1/4″ to 1/8″ range, if you’re measuring it with a ruler, which you shouldn’t bother to do. (Remember: this isn’t a recipe!)

Sprinkle dough with cinnamon sugar, slice into strips with a pizza cutter (or a regular knife, but a pizza cutter will make things easier)—however wide you want to make them; again, it’ll depend on how much dough you have—and roll them into little spirals.

Place the spirals on a cookie sheet and bake in the toaster oven until golden brown—my little guys only took about 10 minutes to reach the right amount of doneness, but yours will depend on their size and could take a little longer. Just keep an eye on them, and you’ll be fine.

Eat immediately, forgetting all about the pie that’s baking in your other oven.