What to do with Leftover Shortcrust Pastry

If you’ve been using shortcrust pastry, don’t throw away any leftovers. Instead, it’s time to get creative with your baking and cut down on your food waste. Using leftover pastry is a great way to get the kids involved with some fun in the kitchen too. 

You’ll find loads of leftover shortcrust pastry recipe ideas at Dr. Oetker – both sweet and savoury – to get you thinking and your mouth watering.

Ignore the bin and roll out that shortcrust pastry to reuse it for a super tasty treat. These are a few of our favourites. 

Jam Tarts: With some leftover pastry and 60 minutes in the kitchen, you can whip up some delicious jam tarts. Our classic recipe features sticky strawberry jam, but you can mix it up to suit your tastebuds. They’re perfect for afternoon tea parties or anytime you get a sweet craving. 

Pear, Chocolate and Hazelnut Pie: Simply roll your leftover shortcrust pastry onto a lightly floured surface to a thickness of approx. 1/2cm and get ready to create this sumptuous dessert. We’re talking pears, chocolate, hazelnut and dollops of vanilla ice cream. What a winning combination. 

Vanilla Egg Custard Tarts: Use your leftover pastry to create a brilliant base for these classic creamy custard tarts. Featuring a heavenly blend of vanilla flavour with a hint of nutmeg for more unique taste, they’re simple to make but always make an impression on your tastebuds. Plus, you can use your leftover egg yolks too!

To really give your leftover pastry a new lease of life, consider adding an extra sweet ingredient. We love chocolatey pastry with a dash of our Dr. Oetker Cocoa Powder. Try it with this Key Lime Pie recipe and you’ll never look back. It’s a true delight of a dessert. 

Or add a little extract to give it even more of a unique flavour. You can do just that with your leftover shortcrust pastry in our Chocolate Orange Mince Pies recipe. For a unique take on some classic Christmas flavours, you’ll add both Dr. Oetker Orange Extract and Dr. Oetker Cocoa Powder to your leftover pastry.

So, can you freeze shortcrust pastry? Yes, you can store leftover shortcrust pastry in both the fridge and freezer. Either way, you’ll want to ball your leftover pastry together and wrap it in cling film. A single layer of cling film is fine for the fridge if you want to use it soon – it will keep for around two days in the fridge.


If you’re putting it in the freezer, double wrap it with cling film to avoid any frostbite. It will keep in the freezer for around one month.

With these leftover shortcrust pastry ideas in your baking repertoire you’ll soon be cutting down on food waste and creating some brilliant bakes at home. And you’ll find loads more baking hints and tips at Dr. Oetker. Check out how to make your own shortcrust pastry, how to blind bake pastry, and plenty more.