Dessert Green Bean Casserole

I have a dear friend who has a strong hatred of green bean casserole. So much, that he's written many diatribes on Facebook about it's nastiness. Here's just one of the more tame, abbreviated examples: 

"Ebola, schmebola. If you've had that Thanksgiving green bean casserole - made by suffocating innocent vegetables in a can of Campbell's Cream of Toxic Gray Sludge, garnished with an old man's yellowed toenail clippings - then you've survived something far worse than Ebola.

Hoping to bring a smile to his face and laughter in his belly this Thanksgiving, I created a dessert version of the classic green bean casserole in his honor.

Thanks, Joe. Your friendship is better than a "steaming pile of raccoon vomit" any day.

Instructions and step-by-step photos of how to bake your own dessert green bean casserole are below. Enjoy!

Dessert Green Bean Casserole

This recipe will make 2 tart-sized desserts or one casserole-sized dessert

Approximate time: 30 minutes

Ingredients & supplies:

1 tube sugar cookie dough

8 ounces cream cheese

½ cup granulated sugar

Lemon juice

Green and black food coloring

1 cup Frosted Flakes cereal

2 tart dishes or one casserole dish

1. Gather your ingredients and supplies.

2. Spray your casserole or tart dishes with non-stick spray. Using half of the sugar cookie dough, press it into the bottom and sides of your baking dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 11-15 minutes.

3. Add green food coloring to the other half of the sugar cookie dough. Mix well. You might add a little bit of flour to keep it from sticking to your hands as you roll it.

4. Roll the dough into tiny green been shapes and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. (If they spread slightly during baking, just use your fingers to reshape them like green beans while they’re still warm.

5. Mix together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add just a tiny bit of black food coloring to make it light gray (similar to what cream of mushroom soup looks like.)

6. Top the baked sugar cookie crust with the cream cheese mixture.

7. Add the baked, green bean sugar cookies on top and line the outer edge of the dessert with Frosted Flakes cereal to look like the “fried onions.”

Serve up a surprising slice or a spoonful to your Thanksgiving guests!

10 Turkey Day Treats to Gobble Up

Thanksgiving seems soooo late this year. I'm all messed up. Sure feels like I should be eating turkey, green bean casserole and marshmallow-smoothered yams by now.

But alas, Thanksgiving is still another week away. I guess that means there's plenty of time to share some of my edible craft recipes - past and present. Here's a little roundup of 10 Turkey Day treats to gobble up:

1. Oreo Turkey Pops

2. Turkey Coffee Spoons

3. Spicy Sweet Potato Pumpkin Bites

4. Turkey Macarons

5. Peekaboo Pumpkin Pound Cake

6. Brown Bag Turkey Legs

7. No-bake Fall Mum Cookies

8. Cheesecake Mashed Potato Bites with Caramel Gravy

9. Caramel Pear Turkey Legs

10. Pumpkin Pie Cheese & Crackers

Gobble 'em up! There's plenty.

The entire Denneler family is gathering in Colby for Thanksgiving this year, and I've made tons of cookies for all those turkeys to enjoy - 20 dozen pumpkin spice cookies with brown butter icing and 7 dozen assorted, fall-color macarons.

 

Traveling long distances with desserts is always tricky, but I've figured out a system that works. A few years ago, I bought these clear, plastic party platters at Party City. I use one for the bottom tray and one for a lid. (I just tape the lids on until we reach our destination.) And last night at Jo-Ann's Fabric & Crafts store, I found this plastic storage container with attached lid - perfect for my macarons.

Bea wanted to help frost the pumpkin spice cookies last night. After dotting the first couple with a big glob of brown butter icing, she decided they'd be prettier with smiley faces and random squiggles instead. Gotta love a baker that goes rogue.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Turkey Macarons

Thanksgiving is just around the corner! Time for turkeys - macaron turkeys with whipped chocolate ganache filling.


I used 3 tablespoons of cocoa in these macarons and they took on more of a "brownie-like" texture. If I ever make these again, I'd go with the 1 1/2-inch circles instead of the 2-inch. They're a little too big to gobble.


I was surprised how difficult it was to find candy corn in this town 2 weeks after Halloween. I tried 3 different stores before I finally found some at Walgreens. Go figure.

Turkey Treats for Toddlers

Bea wanted to bring Thanksgiving treats to daycare this week, so she and I made these Oreo turkeys to share with her friends. (As much as I love her helping me, geez-a-loo she makes it 100 times more complicated than it needs to be. But, that's OK. I'm glad she enjoys being in the kitchen with me.)

Anyway, here are our Oreo Gobblers. Turkeys-on-a-stick. Turkey Pops. (Insert your idea for a clever name here.) I saw these on a website called Cookies and Cups, but modified it to use Reese's Peanut Butter Cups instead. Because, well ... I really just wanted an excuse to buy a bag of Reese's.

Also, here's a handy-dandy tip on assembling them. If you try to cram the stick and pretzels and candy corn into the Double-Stuff Oreos, they'll fall apart. And it'll start to piss you off. So, you kind of need to take the Oreos apart first, place the stick and pretzels and candy corn into the cream filling, and then glue them shut with some melted white chocolate. Works like a charm. You'll thank me later.