Recipe courtesy of Jennifer Perillo

Cinnamon Sugar Buttons

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  • Level: Easy
  • Total: 30 min
  • Prep: 15 min
  • Cook: 15 min
  • Yield: 12 dozen
These cookies are the answer to using up leftover piecrust scraps, but be prepared-they've become such a hit with my daughters that I often whip up homemade piecrust dough just to bake a batch. The tiny button size makes them easy to pack in school lunches or picnic baskets without worrying about them getting crushed.

Ingredients

Perfect Pie Crust:

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 11-by-17-inch baking sheets with parchment paper. 
  2. Add the sugar and cinnamon to a small bowl. Stir with a fork until well blended, and set aside. 
  3. Lightly flour a counter or cutting board. Roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thick. Use a 1-inch cookie cutter to cut out the cookies (doughnut and biscuit cutters usually come with a small circle cutter in the center). Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle the cookies with some of the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake, one tray at a time, until golden around the edges, 12 to 14 minutes.

Perfect Pie Crust:

Yield: 2 (10-inch) crusts
  1. Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  2. Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn't stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.

Cook’s Note

Make a fancier version of this cookie by shaping them into bowties. Cut the rolled out dough into 1 1/2-by-3-inch rectangles. Place the cutouts on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet. Use your fingers to pinch the center of each rectangle, to form a bowtie shape. Bake until golden around the edges, 15 minutes.