Eat at Lu's: Pie Crust Dessert Snails (Vegetarian)

Pie Crust Snails are a quick and dirty way to re-purpose leftover pie crust. This is a simple recipe that contains tons of butter, so I'm sure Paula Deen would approve.

I, however, love snails so much that I decided to just make a full batch with some homemade pie crust. You can use your own pie crust recipe or use pre-made pie crust.

Pie Crust Dough (with butter, lots and lots of butter)

1 1/4 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick (or ½ cup) unsalted butter, frozen and cut into 1/2” cubes

1 teaspoon white vinegar

Approx. ¼ cup ice cold water

Using a food processor or a pastry blender, mix together your flour, sugar, salt, and butter until just barely combined. Stop when all of the butter pieces are the size of tiny peas. It will look uneven and chunky. That is a good thing because the chunks of cold butter in the dough will make the pastry flaky.

If you were using food processor, transfer the flour/butter mixture into a large bowl or onto your countertop. Drizzle 1/8 cup of the ice-cold water over the butter and flour mixture. Using a spatula or your hands, gather the dough together. If necessary, add a little more water a tablespoon at a time until the dough pulls together. Try not to overwork the dough. If you have prepared the dough correctly, you still see unmelted butter pieces throughout the dough.

Wrap the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap or in a Ziploc bag. Form the dough into a disk about ¾-1” thick disk. Let the dough chill in the fridge for at least one hour. It will hold in the refrigerator for a week.

Filling

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup softened butter

When you are ready to make the rolls and the dough has chilled in the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Filling

Combine the brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Mix until well incorporated. Set aside until ready to use.

Cut the dough into four equal pieces, and place one quarter of the dough on a floured countertop and the rest of the dough in the refrigerator (you want to keep it cold so that the butter doesn't melt too much while you work with the dough).

Roll out one quarter of the dough on the floured counter top into a rectangular shape (approximately 5”x7”). Liberally smear the dough with the softened butter and sprinkle heavily with the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Roll up the sheet of dough with the cinnamon-sugar mixture inside. Cut into four pieces and place the “rolls” on a lined baking sheet. Put the baking sheet into the refrigerator to chill while you repeat the process with the other three quarters of the dough.

When all of the rolls have been prepared, place the baking sheet into the refrigerator for 5 minutes so that the butter in the rolls can chill before baking (cold butter = flaky crust).

Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-30 minutes.