I also use my leftover pieces to make cookies (my Mom always called them Crispies so that's what they are still called in my house) and to decorate the top of pies. One other use is to let the kids in your life make a mini pie either in a tiny pie pan, custard cup, or muffin pan. My kids love making mini anything and if the pie is for some special occasion they have to wait for then the mini pie gives them a preview of the goodness to come.

ohhhhhh My Grandma and Mom and Aunties would always sprinkle the extra crust with cinnamon and sugar. They'd bake them until they were just beginning to brown. Such sweet treats they were! Almost better than the pie itself.

What a wonderful memory to be reminded of.

=)
Z

We're also pie-crust cookie makers in my family, but my Mom always rolls out the remaining crust, spreads the butter, sprinkles on the cinnamon and sugar, and then rolls it up into a spiral and slices it into pinwheel shapes. I firmly maintain that this makes the crust cookies infinitely more delicious.

Yes! My Mom does the same thing. She would roll them into a log, cut off 1/2 in rounds and bake them so they look like spirals. She called them pets de nonne, which means nuns farts. My sister and I thought that was soooo hilarious when we were young.

We'd do the same, but roll them up with raisins inside and bake in the toaster oven, so we could peek and poke to test doneness without messing up the pie.

Good memories.

Gvinton, that was hilarious ... I think in my household, they shall heretofore be known as pets de nonne.

I, uh, eat the raw dough.

Me too, purdygirl.

We did the crust cookies too, they were amazing. I think I burnt my tongue on quite a few when I was a kid. It was too hard to wait until they were cool.
Now I either do the same, or just eat the dough raw.

my mom did the same thing, but rolled and sliced w/ brown sugar instead of cinnamon/sugar. caramelized and wonderful.

I make little leaves to set along side each slice of pie. I have cookie cutters to make several types of leaves. I noticed Williams Sonoma sells something like mine, except costing twice as much for half as many cutters.
The rest of the year I sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on the ragged bits and bake them until browned.

Gvinton - is your mom from Quebec? They were Pets de Soeur in my Quebecoise mom's kitchen.

My mom let us make jam pies in little tins. We'd line the tin with dough, dab some jam inside, fold over, and stick it next to the pie in the oven. It was great to see our little pies next to her big one.

I either eat the dough or make cookies.

In the past I've brushed some butter on the extra dough and sprinkled it with thyme. It tastes pretty good, but sometimes the crust is a little too flaky. I'll have to try the cinnamon and sugar thing, it sound good!

My Mom-Mom (and my mom, and me) makes rolypolies, which are crust spread with butter, cinnamon, and sugar and rolled into a tube and then sliced into fat little disks. Honestly, it's my favorite part of the pie. My Mom-Mom always made pie when we visited (usualy different ones for each night) and always saved the rolypolies for me and my brother.

My grandma always made cheese treats, and although my mom made cinnamon-sugar pastries much like those other folks describe, I have to admit I'm partial to the cheese pastries and that's usually what I do too! Here's how I make them:

Patch together the leftover pieces into a kind of pie dough quilt, cover half of it with very thin slices of extra sharp cheddar, then fold the un-cheesy half over the cheese. Roll out carefully, add more cheese, fold, roll, etc. until you have as much cheese as you like. I generally do only two or three layers or the dough will get a bit tough.

Then slice the dough into long strips, grind some black pepper on top, and bake at about 400 degrees F. for 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Yum!

Make little tarts with jelly or jam inside.

Add me to the pie cookie camp. We always go with the cinnamon sugar topping. I may have to try the melted butter this year. That would definitely be an improvement. The cheesy option sounds great too!

Great memories...my mom made "pie tarts", the rolled up and sliced version (like mini cinnamon rolls). Yum!

My mom and grandma also sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on the leftover pastry. I don't have much of a sweet tooth, so the last time I made pie I rolled out the leftover pastry, used a little (car-shaped) cookie cutter, buttered the pastry and sprinkled with shaved cheddar and a little salt. I think I liked the little cheesy cars more than the pie!

my mom and grandmother sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar and roll it up, then form the roll into a little crescent. i just eat it! pie dough is my favorite :)

EAT IT.

raw.

make your own "pop tarts" ala chez pim!
roll out the dough, put jam inside and fold over & crimp. handheld crusty goodness.
http://www.chezpim.com/blogs/2008/08/how-to-make-you.html

My Mom would roll the extra out into an oval, sprinkle lots of brown sugar and cinnamon and then fold it over, crimp it and bake it. Delicious!

Pètes de soeur !

We used to make stickies with left over biscuit dough. We'd take all of the random pieces, knead them back together, roll out into a rectangle, and top with melted butter, brown and white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Then we'd roll up the rectangle and slice into little cinnamon buns. We'd scrape up the sugary butter than leaked out as we were cutting, and put it on top of the stickies before putting them in the oven to bake. I loved licking my fingers after scraping that up, and I'm pretty sure I loved the stickies more than biscuits. Such a treat!