Pastry scraps

I grew up with a grandmother who was married just before the Great Depression, and lived through both world wars. In her kitchen, you scraped every bowl out until nothing was left, washed out all the plastic bags to use them again, saved all the scraps and leftovers, and never wasted food.

When you make a pie, you can never roll out the pastry exactly to fit – you always end up trimming off some. Those scraps in my grandmother’s house didn’t go to waste either – this is what she would do with them (and I do the same!).

Ingredients

Pastry scraps from trimming
1 tbsp white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Put the pastry scraps in a baking dish (cut any very large ones into 1" slices or so). 

Mix together the cinnnamon and sugar, and sprinkle over the pastry scraps. (Try to avoid getting a lot on the baking dish - it tends to stick). 

Bake at 400F for about 10 mins (check at 7 mins if thin). Let cool. 

Honestly, sometimes I like these pastry scraps better than the thing I’ve made with the rest of the pastry!

The verdict

Super easy to do (especially if you can stick them in the oven beside whatever else you are baking), and delicious! Think rustic cinnamon scrolls, or buttery cinnamon toast (but more decadent). They usually disappear pretty quickly.

I can’t think of a more delicious way to save food from the compost bin!

What’s your favourite way of using kitchen scraps?