Cinnamon Pinwheel Cookies Made with Leftover Pie Crust (2024)

Today I’m sharing my family’s favorite recipe for using up leftover pie crust: Cinnamon Sugar Pinwheel Cookies. These cookies taste amazing! Just like a little cinnamon bun wrapped up in a flaky pie crust.

Everyone will love these cookies!

Making Memories in the Kitchen

Some of my best memories growing up were the times our Granny would visit, and would always let us help her make a big batch of her famous HomemadeBanana Pudding. She made the best pies and puddings, but it wasn’t just the food we remember, it was the time she spent with us in the kitchen making us feel special, like a big kid- helping her do all the mixing, stirring, and other important cooking things.

I want to make sure my kids will have fond memories to look back onof us baking and having fun in the kitchen too.

These Cinnamon Pinwheel Cookies are a perfect recipe to make with the kids. Rolling out the dough, mixing the cinnamon and sugar, and mixing the glaze ingredients is the perfect job for little hands.

What to do With Leftover Pie Crusts

I’ve never been a from-scratch baker (although I will if the recipe or occasion calls for it.) I definitely prefer to use store-bought pie crusts, biscuits, and cake mixes. To me, it’s all about choosing my battles and saving time saved on mundane tasks. I have several great shortcut dessert recipes, I think my fave is this shortcut tres leches poke cake.

You know where I am going with this, right?

This cinnamon pinwheel cookie recipe is completely made with leftover premade pie crusts!

And yes, a homemade pie crust certainly works too!

Let me just say – these Cinnamon Pinwheel Cookies taste even better than they look!! Just like a little cinnamon bun wrapped up in a flaky pie crust, plus the butter and sugar will crystalize a bit on the baking sheet, so you get these tiny little delicious crunchy bits of buttery cinnamon sugar that melt in your mouth.

Ingredients in Cinnamon Sugar Pinwheel Cookies made with pie crust

Don’t the cinnamon pinwheel cookies look amazing? And they are so easy to make! For this recipe, all you need are four basic ingredients. (Ingredients at a glance, get the full printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.)

• Pie crust | Homemade or pre-made (If using premade frozen, let the crust rest on the counter for 10 to 20 minutes to thaw.)
• Butter | I like salted butter, but unsalted is ok too. Just sprinkle a pinch of salt over the buttered pie crust.
• Cinnamon | Powdered, make sure it is fresh. (No 10-year old expired cinnamon, please.)
• Brown Sugar | Light brown sugar. In a pinch, white sugar in an equal amount will work fine as a brown sugar replacement.
• Optional | Ingredients for a glaze: confectioners sugar, vanilla extract, milk

How to Make Cinnamon Pinwheel Cookies

First, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Next, you will combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and set it aside.

Sprinkle a bit of flour on the countertop and then roll out the pie crust into an oblong shape, flattening it just a bit.

Coat pie crust with melted butter and generously sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the buttered pie crust.

Then, starting at one end, roll the leftover pie crust up into a log shape. For best results, place the cinnamon sugar pinwheel log into the freezer for about ten minutes. The log needs to be firmed up so when you slice it, it will maintain its round shape.

After it has chilled, slice the rolled cinnamon sugared pie crust into 1/2 inch slices with a serrated knife.

On a well-floured surface, with a rolling pin, gently roll each pinwheel flat. If you find that the “tail ” of the crust is sticking out, just tuck it under while rolling. Be sure to flour the rolling pin to keep the pinwheels from sticking. (chilling the dough will also help with this.)

Gently transfer the pinwheel to a baking sheet and bake for 8 to 12 minutes. (Or until crust is golden brown and cooked through.) Let cookies cool on the pan for a minute or two then transfer to a cooling rack.

To make optional icing:Mix the powdered sugar with vanilla and the milk, starting with one tablespoon of milk and adding more as needed. You want the drizzle to be thick, but still pourable. (I recommend erring on the thick side – I thought mine turned out a bit thin.) If you think yours is too thin, just add a bit more powdered sugar.

Once the cookies are cool, drizzle with the icing.

Yum!

Recipe Tips

• Don’t Skip the Chilling of the dough. It helps the cookies keep their round shape when cutting.
• Use lots of flour when slicing the cookies to help keep them from sticking to the counter.
• Make sure your oven rack is in the middle height position. The cinnamon sugar can go from caramelized to burnt on the bottom of the cookies very quickly.
• Rolling the pinwheels flat before cooking is not 100% necessary. I found that rolling the cookies made for a more crispy cookie and helped the pinwheel “stay together”.
• I definitely recommended the icing- it puts the Cinnamon Pinwheels over the top! The icing makes the cookies taste like little cinnamon rolls in a cookie form.
• This recipe is easily doubled or tripled.

It always seems like I have a leftover pie crust in the fridge after a marathon baking session and it’s a family tradition to make these Cinnamon Sugar Pinwheels with the leftover crust. This pinwheel cookie is for one pie crust, but it’s an easy one to double if you have two.

Pinwheel Cookie Variations

• Add pecan pieces or other nuts.
• A fun twist on these cookies would be to swap out the brown sugar for colored sanding sugar. How fun would these be in red or green at Christmas, pretty pastels at easter, or bright red and blue for the 4th of July!
• Use white sugar and cocoa powder for a chocolate swirl pinwheel cookie.

FAQ’s

More Cookie and sweet Treats

• Santa’s Whiskers Cookies
• Soft Lofthouse Style Christmas Cookies
• White Chocolate Cranberry Pecan Sugar Cookies
• St Patrick’s Day Cookies
• Easy Peanut Butter Fudge
• Saltine Cracker Toffee

Tried this recipe?

Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and/or a review in the comments section below. If you share an image on Instagram or Facebook, be sure to tag me and use #scatteredmomrecipes!

Easy Cinnamon Sugar Pinwheel Cookies

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Now it’s your turn! I would love to know your favorite way to use up leftover pie crust. Let us know in the comment section below.

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