Mini Turnover Cookies

Here at The Mouse House, autumn is officially pie season. From pumpkin to pecan, you can almost always find me rolling out a crust at least once a week. (Stay tuned soon for a killer recipe for a showstopping Mile High Apple Pie!)

Now, if you’re like me, you’re bound to have some leftover pie dough on your hands at one point or another. (How do you like to use it up?)

Normally, I usually just cut it into strips, dust them with cinnamon sugar, and bake them off like little cookies.

Here’s a slightly spiffier alternative, which is almost as easy to throw together. This short and sweet treat makes a great fast snack for a hungry army of kids—or unexpected company.

For this cookie, I cut rounds of pie dough, fill them with whatever jam I have on hand, fold them over into half moons, and seal with egg wash.

If you’re having a cookie emergency, you can even use store-bought dough. I won’t tell. If you want to make the dough from scratch, take a peek at the crust for my Blueberry Pie here. Just cut the recipe in half unless you want a metric ton of cookies.

Other fillings

I love these cookies with plain ole raspberry jam. Here are some other ideas for fillings:

• Marmalade, dusted with fresh orange zest
• Blueberry jam, dotted with fresh lemon zest
• Nutella, sprinkled with chopped, toasted hazelnuts
• Maple sugar candy with finely chopped pecans
• Peanut butter with a tiny bit of jelly
• Fresh lemon curd

This one is more method than recipe. A regular single, homemade pie crust recipe should yield about 14-16 cookies, depending on how large you cut the rounds.

Use a biscuit cutter that’s about 3 inches across. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, if you like.

Mini Turnover Cookies

Pie dough (click here for my recipe)
A little flour for your board
Jam
1 egg, beaten
Sanding sugar, if you like

Roll out the pie dough

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Beat the egg in a small bowl and set aside. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.

Roll the pie dough out on a floured board.

You want to get it thin, just like you would for a regular pie.

Cut the rounds

With a biscuit cutter (or a glass), cut out the rounds. I like to use a cutter with a fluted edge.

Fill the dough

Put a small blob of jam (or other filling) in the center of a piece of dough. For my 3-inch rounds, I used maybe a scant teaspoon of jam. The trick is filling them without overfilling them. (How much is too much? You’ll find out really quickly when you go to seal them and you have jam oozing out the edges. If you overfill one, don’t fret. Just open it up, remove some, and try again.)

Using your (very clean) finger or a pastry brush, paint a circle of beaten egg around the edge of the dough. This will help to keep the cookie sealed as it bakes.

Seal the cookies

Flop the dough over so that it forms a half moon. Press down on the edges to seal well. If a little jam leaks out of one corner, don’t sweat it. Just wipe it off and keep going. If a lot leaks out, open up the dough, remove some jam, wipe the edges clean, re-egg it, and seal again.

Set the filled cookie on your prepared pan. Poke a couple of small holes in the top. (These will let excess steam out as they bake.)

Repeat with the rest, until you’ve filled them all. Then ball up the remaining dough scraps, roll them out, cut more rounds, and fill those, too. (Basically, do this until you’ve used all the dough.)

Brush with egg wash & bake

Brush the tops of the cookies with beaten egg. Sprinkle with sanding sugar (or chopped nuts, depending on your filling) now, if you like. Bake for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

They’re done when they’re puffed and golden brown on the edges and bottom. When they’re done, yank the pan out of the oven.

Cool for 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!