A Mini Guide to Thanksgiving Leftovers

As an appetizer, you’re going to make the cheese spread to end all cheese spreads. Invented by the French to use up rinds and remnants, this indulgent yet sophisticated concoction is called Fromage Fort.  

You’ll need:

• ~¼ pound soft cheese (ricotta, feta, brie, goat cheese, cream cheese, etc.)
• ~¼ pound hard cheese, grated
• 1 tablespoon butter, plus more as needed
• 1 small clove garlic, grated
• ~¼ cup white wine
• Parsley or chives, minced

First, ravage the sad-looking cheese platter until you have about a ½ a pound of cheese, half soft and half hard cheeses. Take out a little bit of butter, some leftover wine, a small clove of garlic, and green herbs if you have any. First, bring everything to room temperature. Cut the soft cheeses into cubes and grate anything hard, like cheddar or manchego. Put them into the KitchenAid® Artisan® Mini Mixer bowl with a tablespoon of butter.

Smash the garlic and chop it up into a paste or pulverize it with the fine side of a grater. Run the mixer with the beater attachment, drizzling in white wine by the tablespoon, until the dip is fluffy and creamy, scraping the sides as you go. Scoop into a bowl, then top with chopped parsley or chives. You can serve this in a tiny bowl with crackers or cut-up bread or vegetables alongside, or spread it onto baguette slices and toast them under the broiler until brown.

The main dish is a foursome of crave-able, homey, mini turkey pot pies, whose payoff is disproportionately big for how easy they are to make.

You’ll need:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 small onion, chopped
• ½ cup chopped vegetables (carrots and celery are fine; use whatever you have)
• Salt
• 2 tablespoons flour
• ½ cups turkey or chicken stock, or milk
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 cups chopped leftover turkey meat
• Parsley
• Rolled-out pie dough or purchased puff pastry

Melt the butter in a pan and add the onion and the other vegetables. Add ½ teaspoon salt, turn the heat to low, cover the pot, and cook for 10 minutes, until the veggies are soft. Sprinkle in the flour, mixing it all around. Then pour in the liquid stock or milk and raise the heat to bring to a boil, then turn the heat to low again and simmer until the liquid thickens, about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and mustard, plus the chopped turkey and a small handful of chopped fresh parsley.

Taste to make sure you’ve got enough salt, then distribute the filling among four individual, oven-safe dishes. For the top, roll the pastry to about 1/3-inch thick, then trim to fit the dishes and press over the top of each.

Use a knife to make a few decorative slashes. Place the pot pies on a baking sheet, then cook at 425°F for about 20 minutes, until the pastry is golden.

The day after Thanksgiving, cravings turn to things that are not brown, soft, or overly rich too. That’s why a fresh crispy and spicy green salad appears beside your pot pies, with one important addition—hot and spicy croutons.

You’ll need:

• A few handfuls washed green leaf lettuce
• 2 cups leftover stuffing, cubed; or stale bread or cornbread, cubed
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more to taste
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• Salt
• Dash garlic or onion powder (optional)
• Extra veggies or leftovers for the salad
• Olive oil
• Lemon juice

You can make the croutons from leftover stuffing or from leftover sliced bread or cornbread—whatever you’ve got. Cut or tear the miscellaneous carbs into crouton-sized pieces. Then, warm about the oil in a small pan. When it’s hot, add the cayenne pepper, paprika, onion or garlic powder, and a few pinches of salt. Add the bread or stuffing, tossing to coat with the oil. Spread the croutons out on a baking sheet and bake next to the pot pies until crispy.

Wash and dry the lettuce and place in a bowl. If you want, you can adorn the salad with judicious bits of leftovers, like cut-up veggies from the crudités spread, dollops of cranberry sauce, or cubes of roasted sweet potato. Dress it simply with olive oil and lemon. Finally, grab the spicy croutons and sprinkle them onto the crisp, dressed salad. 

Dessert may originate with table scraps, but it culminates in small-sized melt-in-your-mouth masterpieces: Thanksgiving kitchen sink cookies. These use up any nuts, snacks, candy, dried fruit, and even cookies that you’ve acquired from yesterday’s buffet. If you’re using tons of super sweet candy, you can reduce the sugar; if your nuts are really salty, cut down on the addition of salt.

You’ll need:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 egg
• 1 ¼ cups white sugar
• 2 ¼ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups leftover add-ins, like nuts, dried fruit, chocolate, candy, or chunks of brownie

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Take the butter and egg out of the fridge and leave them on the counter for 30 minutes. When the butter loses its chill, add to the KitchenAid® Artisan® Mini Mixer bowl with the sugar, and use the beater attachment to cream them together until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then sprinkle the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix again, just 'til combined.

Now comes the fun part. Chop salty nuts from the hors d’oeuvres spread and roast any untoasted ones in the oven until fragrant. Break those chocolate turkeys (milk, dark, or white) into bite-sized pieces. Pick up handfuls of harvest-colored M&Ms. Retrieve extra dried cranberries. Scrounge for any extra grated coconut you find lying around (toast that in the oven too, until golden). Crumble leaf-shaped gingersnaps; cube leftover brownies; scoop out pecans from the pie. Almost anything goes. Now, add 2 cups of this delicious hodgepodge to your dough, and beat once more, until the goodies are distributed. Shape the dough into little balls, then arrange them a few inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake at 375°F for 7 to 8 minutes, or until just firm. Cool slightly before indulging. 

And to learn more about the KitchenAid® Artisan® Mini Mixer visit MiniMoments.com.