It’s the middle of winter, but I’m still digging out some frozen treasures from my freezer after a hectic holiday season. In addition to turkey bones and clumps of cookie dough (which I enjoy every night), I also found a stray roll of pie dough. It doesn’t come in a box, so I don’t know if it’s vegan, gluten-free, or what, but it’s definitely pie dough—and pie dough is always flaky and delicious. If you have extra crust and don’t feel like making a whole pie, use your leftovers to make these Berry Cheesecake Twists.

Pie crust is extremely tender and flavorful on its own, and I've broken quite a few plain crusts off the sides of whole pies. (This is called snack crust.) Pie crust is mostly flour and salt, with a lot of fat. When it's rolled out and baked, the fat melts and the water evaporates, creating little air pockets. The result is buttery and tender, and a perfect vehicle for flavor—and you don't have to add a lot of flavor to make a good thing even better.

For an easy snack that mimics the tangy flavors of a berry cheesecake, I added a little blackberry jam and sweetened cream cheese to the pie crust and shaped it into cookie-like creations. You can get creative with how you make your cheesecake twists, but these are the shapes I made.

1. Divide fillings into layers