5 Easy Desserts You Can Make with One Box of Pillsbury Pie Crust

Have you ever stood in front of the refrigerator with a box of Pillsbury pie crust and thought — okay, but what else can I make with this? Because same. I had a box in the fridge, a YouTube video to film, and a genuinely curious question: how many completely different desserts could I pull off with one box of refrigerated pie crust?

The answer, it turns out, is five. And not five variations on the same theme — five legitimately different desserts, from mini cinnamon roll cookies to a fudgy brownie pie to the most classic Canadian butter tarts you’ve ever made from scratch. Each one uses the full box (both crusts), so these aren’t little experiments — they’re real, crowd-feeding recipes that just happen to start with the same box.

Almost all of them came from the Pillsbury website. I’m not reinventing these recipes — I’m rounding them up in one place because I made every single one and they’re genuinely worth your time. The exception is the apple pie, which is my own recipe.

Watch the video to see all five come together, then click through to whichever one you want to make first.

At-a-Glance Box

🪴  5 Desserts, One Box of Pie Crust — At a Glance
Crust Used	Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust — 1 box (2 crusts) per recipe
Desserts	Cinnamon roll cookies · Nutella crescent cookies · Butter tarts · Fudge brownie pie · Apple pie
Sources	4 recipes from Pillsbury.com · Apple pie from Pie Lady Bakes
Best For	Using up a box of pie crust, holiday baking, trying something new without a big commitment
Difficulty	Easy to medium — all five are beginner-friendly
Video	Watch all five being made on YouTube

The 5 Desserts

1. Mini Cinnamon Roll Cookies

If you’ve ever wished cinnamon rolls were easier to make on a weeknight, this is your answer. You unroll both pie crusts, spread them with softened butter and a generous blanket of cinnamon sugar, roll them up tight like a log, slice them into rounds, and bake until golden. They come out looking like little pinwheels with caramelized, crispy edges and a soft, sugary centre — all the flavour of a cinnamon roll without any yeast, rising time, or arm workout. This is consistently the one that surprises people most when they find out it started with a pie crust.

Full recipe: Mini Cinnamon Roll Cookies on Pillsbury.com

2. Easy Nutella Cookie Rolls

The shortest ingredient list of the five, and possibly the most dangerous. You cut both crusts into triangles, spoon a little Nutella onto the wide end of each one, roll them up crescent-style, and bake until the edges go golden and the chocolate-hazelnut filling turns warm and slightly molten in the centre. They take about ten minutes to assemble, they look like you put in real effort, and they disappear from the plate faster than anything else on this list. If you need a last-minute dessert that tastes genuinely indulgent, make these.

Full recipe: Easy Nutella Cookie Rolls on Pillsbury.com

3. Easy Butter Tarts

A Canadian classic and, honestly, the one I get asked about the most. You press pieces of both pie crusts into a muffin tin to make the shells, then fill them with a rich mixture of brown sugar, butter, eggs, and a splash of vanilla — and bake until the filling is just set with that signature slightly-wobbly centre. The crust goes flaky and golden, the filling goes gooey and caramel-sweet, and the whole thing tastes like something your grandmother made from scratch on a Sunday afternoon. (The raisin debate I will leave entirely to you.)

These also freeze beautifully, which makes them a favourite for holiday baking marathons — make a double batch and you’ve got dessert covered for weeks.

Full recipe: Easy Butter Tarts on Pillsbury.com

4. Fudge Brownie Pie

This is what happens when you can’t decide between brownies and pie, and you refuse to compromise. Both crusts line a pie plate, and a dense, fudgy brownie batter goes right in on top — baked until the edges are set and the centre is still just a little bit soft. You get the buttery, flaky crust you’d expect from a pie and the rich, chewy centre you’d expect from a tray of brownies. Serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and you will not hear a single complaint. This one disappeared the fastest when I filmed the video.

Full recipe: Fudge Brownie Pie on Pillsbury.com

5. Apple Pie

And of course, the one that started it all — because no pie crust challenge is complete without an actual pie. This is my own recipe, built around the same box: both crusts, one for the bottom, one for the top, with a classic spiced apple filling in between. It’s the dessert I’ve been making longer than any other on this list, and the one that feels most like home. If you’re new to pie baking, this is a great place to start — store-bought crust takes the most intimidating part off the table entirely.

Full recipe: Mom’s Apple Pie on Pie Lady Bakes

Helpful Tips for Working with Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust

Let the Crust Come to Room Temperature First

Cold pie crust cracks when you unroll it. Let it sit on the counter for 15–20 minutes before you try to unroll or handle it — it’ll be pliable and much easier to work with. This applies to all five recipes.

Don’t Skip the Cooking Spray

Whether you’re lining a pie plate, pressing into a muffin tin, or baking cookies on a sheet, a light coat of cooking spray or a sheet of parchment makes cleanup much easier and helps the crust release cleanly.

Work Quickly Once It’s Out of the Fridge

Pie crust is easier to handle when it’s cold. If your kitchen is warm and the dough starts to feel soft and sticky, pop it back in the fridge for 10 minutes before continuing. This is especially helpful for the cinnamon roll cookies, where you’re rolling and slicing.

Both Crusts Come in the Box for a Reason

Pillsbury sells their refrigerated pie crust two-to-a-box because most pie recipes need a top and a bottom. Every recipe in this roundup uses the full box — so no half-used crusts languishing in the fridge, no guessing about leftovers. Open the box, use everything.

Final Thoughts

Five completely different desserts, each from one box of Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust — that’s the kind of versatility I think every home baker should know about. Whether you’re working through a box you already have or stocking up specifically to try all five, I hope this list gives you a whole new way to look at that little red box in the refrigerator aisle. Let me know in the comments which one you make first! For more easy dessert ideas, browse my Easy Desserts collection, or pop over to Cozy Living for more recipes and ideas made for slow, comfortable days at home.

Until next time 💛

Grandma Judy