Whether you're using this dough as an all butter pie crust without shortening to build your favorite thanksgiving pie, or making some delicious cinnamon and sugar pie crust cookies, this recipe will become your go to for all your pie crust and snack needs in no time!
Combine water and salt: stir salt into cold water in a small bowl or cup until salt is mostly dissolved.
Cut butter into flour: place flour in the bowl of a stand mixer.*1 Turn mixer on at the lowest speed, and add cold butter cubes in a few pieces at a time over the course of 1-2 minutes. Continue mixing (keeping the mixer on low!) until you have a mostly coarse meal with a few pea- and dime-sized chunks remaining (this usually takes about 2-3 minutes in a stand mixer).
Add in cold water: leave the mixer continuing to stir on low and pour in cold water/salt mixture in a steady stream, scraping salt out of the bottom as needed. Allow to mix (keep on the lowest speed), until it comes together.
Finish by hand: when dough is mostly combined, lightly flour a work surface and dump dough pieces and any dry pieces in the bottom of the bowl out onto the work surface. Use your hand to gently press the dough together into a single mass. Work it as little as possible to bring it together so your dough doesn’t toughen, and the butter doesn't melt from the warmth of your hands.
Wrap and chill: shape dough into a 1" thick block. Wrap air-tight in plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour or until fully chilled (up to 2 days). (If using this dough for a round pie, you can instead form two circles that are 1" thick for chilling, so your dough Is already the right shape when you go to roll out your crust later.)
TO FINISH YOUR PIE OR COOKIES:
Follow pie recipe instructions: if using this dough to make a full pie simply roll-out, fill, and bake pie crust according to your recipe's instructions.*2
OR
Roll out pie dough cookies: preheat oven to 400°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove pie dough from the fridge and lightly flour your work surface. Working with a ½ batch of dough at a time, roll out dough to about an ⅛" thick for cut out cookies, re-flouring your surface and rotating your dough as needed to prevent it from sticking to the counter (to make spiral strips instead, see notes*3).
Cut to desired shapes: use your favorite cookie cutters to cut cookies into your desired shapes. Place cut-out cookies on prepared baking sheets with 2" between each cookie.
Pour some sugar on 'em: combine cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl until fully blended. Using slightly damp fingers or a pastry brush, lightly brush the tops of the cookies with water (there shouldn’t be puddling at all, just a subtle wet shine). Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar generously on top of the wet cookies until they're fully coated with the top layer looking dry (be generous - there’s no such thing as too much cinnamon and sugar on these guys!).
Bake until flaked: bake for 16-22 minutes until puffed up, flaky and deep golden brown on the top, sides and bottom. If you roll your dough thicker, you'll need to bake closer to 22, and thinner, closer to 16, and it's important that you reach a deep golden brown, not just a touch on the edges, to avoid doughy middles.
Cool until crunchy and enjoy! Allow cookies to cool so fully those flaky layers can crisp up and enjoy the cinnamon and sugary goodness!
Notes
*1To cut the butter in by hand: place flour in a larger mixing bowl. Add cold butter cubes to the flour and toss to fully coat them. Work the butter into the flour, bit by bit, either smearing it into sheets between your fingers (my preferred method) or cutting it into the flour with a fork or pastry blender. Continue to blend until you have a few dime-sized chunks remaining in a mixture of course and chunk crumbs (this usually takes about 2-3 minutes by hand).
*2Pie dough yield: this recipe makes enough dough for a double-crusted pie in a 9" round pie pan if rolled to between an ⅛” and ¼”-thick.
*3Cut out cookies or strips: if you’d rather just slice your dough into strips and then twist them to bake, you can do that too! The dough won’t bake up quite as flaky, but your twist will still be delicious and they’re less work to make too. In that case, roll your dough to ⅛” thick and I recommend adding the cinnamon and sugar both before twisting and retouching the bare tops with more cinnamon and sugar after twisting.
What to do with leftover pie crust: if you have scraps left after you make your traditional pie crusts, bake them up into free-form pie dough cookies for a delicious pie crust snack to reward the baker!
It’d mean so much to me if you could please give the recipe card a ⭐ rating on the site and leave a comment to help others find this sweet recipe! Xo, Jocelyn @ Mint+Mallow