Marvelous treats made with the pastry scraps you almost threw out!
Save pie top trimmings and other odds and ends — everyone will be so glad you did
When you've been baking over the holidays, and especially if you've been baking pies, you can end up with leftover pasty from trimming pie tops and from all of those fancy cutouts. Don't let those pasty scraps go to waste! We asked pastry pro, Arlene Lott, to show us a way (an easy way, of course!) to put them to use. Naturally, she came back with three easy ways. Check out these sweet and savoury treats that are perfect for adding to a cheese board, or enjoying with soup, or snacking on with wine, or tea...
For all of these recipes, how much of any of the ingredients you'll need will depend on how much pastry you have to use up. But don't worry about not having specific quantities. Just watch Arlene make these baked beauties in this quick video, and you'll see you don't need a recipe at all. You'll never waste a little mound of leftover pie dough again!
Brown Butter Sage Pie Crust Crackers
Ingredients:
- Butter
- Fresh sage leaves
- Thinly rolled pastry
- Egg white, whisked
- Grated Parmesan
- Salt, to taste
- Pepper, to taste
- Maldon salt to finish
Preheat oven to 375F degrees.
In a non-stick frying pan, melt enough butter over medium-high heat to evenly cover the bottom of the pan. Add the sage leaves, cook for about 30 seconds on one side, and turn them over using tongs. Remove leaves from butter and place on a paper towel-lined plate to absorb the extra butter.
Roll 2 pieces of pastry out into a very thin sheet. Brush each with the egg white. Then place the sage leaves onto the pieces of pastry, and sprinkle with cheese, and salt and pepper to taste. Place other piece of pastry, eggwash side down, on top. Roll to press the sheets together, until you see the leaves through the pastry. Then brush top with more egg white, and sprinkle with a little Maldon salt.
Using leaf cookie cutter or any shape you like, cut out shapes from the pastry, right through the sage leaves, and place the shapes on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake the crackers until they are browned, checking them after about 7 minutes (how long this will take will depend on how large the crackers are.
As an alternative flavour option, you could brush the insides of the pastry sheets with Dijon mustard, sprinkle with crispy-fried green onions, finishing the shapes with sesame seeds before baking.
Black Sesame Pinwheels
Ingredients:
- Pastry
- Black sesame paste
- Salt, to taste
- Pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup melted butter (cooled to room temperature)
- 2 tbsp dry mustard powder
Preheat oven to 375F degrees.
Roll the pastry out into a rectangle shape about ⅛-inch thick. Spread the pastry with the black sesame paste and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Roll the pastry up along the long edge, then place the roll onto a baking pan. Mix the butter and the mustard powder together, then brush it on the outside of the pastry roll. Put the pan in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up.
Slice the roll into crackers about ¼-inch thick. Place them on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake the crackers for about 10-15 minutes until they are puffed and golden.
As an alternative flavour option, you could use almond butter, blue cheese, cream cheese or jalapeño jelly instead of the sesame paste.
Bacon Piesticks
Ingredients:
- Regular bacon slices
- Pastry
- Brown sugar
- Smoked paprika
- Melted butter (cooled to room temperature)
Preheat oven to 375F degrees.
Cut the bacon slices into quarters: half lengthwise, and then half across.
Roll out the pastry to the same thickness as the bacon, then cut into strips to match the length and width of the bacon pieces too.
Lay each piece of bacon on top of a piece of pastry, sprinkle with some brown sugar and paprika, then twist each a couple of times. Transfer the twists to a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and press the ends down onto the paper. Brush the exposed pastry with the melted butter. Bake until golden, about 8-10 minutes, watching to make sure the sugar does not burn.
