Have you recovered from your Thanksgiving food overload yet? I hope you all had a great day. I’m blessed to be able to be the host for our families each year and this year was one of my best turkeys ever. I’ve played around with different recipes throughout the years and have finally settled on fresh Amish turkey with a dry salt brine being the best way to go for flavor and juiciness. I splayed my turkey this year, which is the “new” part and it definitely helped the turkey cook more quickly and evenly.

If you’re not familiar with splaying a whole turkey or chicken, it’s cutting the skin between the leg/thigh and breast and then pushing down on the thighs until they pop and lay flat in the pan. My dry salt brine is a tablespoon each of chopped rosemary, parsley and sage, a tablespoon of minced garlic, 3 tablespoons kosher salt (use 1 tablespoon for every 5 lbs. of turkey), and about a teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper. On Tuesday, 2 days before the holiday, I pat the turkey dry, rub it all over with the salt mixture, getting under the skin where I can and also in the cavity. Place in a bag (I use turkey roasting bags) and refrigerate. Wednesday morning, flip the bird over and leave refrigerated. Remove the turkey from the fridge and bag, pat dry and let it come to room temperature 40 minutes before roasting. Place bird directly in the pan (no rack), put into a preheated 450-degree oven for 10 minutes and then reduce heat to 350. Add 2 cups of broth (your choice) and 1 cup of wine to bottom of roasting pan and roast until the thigh temperature reaches 165. Remove from oven and let sit for at least 30 minutes before carving. Delicious!

Anyway, I’m not really here to talk best turkey recipe ever, so, let’s talk dessert.

I’m not much of a dessert eater, so my mom typically brings dessert for Thanksgiving. This year, however, I already had some apple pie filling that I made and froze just a month or two ago. I also have these adorable mini-tart pans, so I knew they’d be perfect for some individual apple pies. Since I needed something easy for a crust, I picked up some frozen puff pastry. Now, I didn’t write down exactly how I made these, but this will give you the general idea. These photos are actually from the test run I did of my tarts, the weekend before Thanksgiving. These are a little more rustic looking than the final tarts, on which I did a little fancier lattice work top.

Let the puff pastry come to room temperature but not completely warm – about 30 to 40 minutes. Carefully unfold each sheet. Divide each sheet into thirds, cutting at the fold line. On a lightly-floured surface, roll out each section a bit, until more than wide enough to cover the tart pan. Cut sheet in half, so that you basically have 2 squares of pastry. Each square will fit one mini tart pan. Repeat with remaining sections, leaving at least one section forslicing up for decorative lattice work, if desired.

Grease your tart pans with cold butter. Line each pan with a square of puffed pastry. Add a couple of big heaping tablespoons of apple pie filling. Fold overhanging edges in, adding some lattice work from a strip of pastry, if desired. Top with a sprinkle of sugar and cinnamon.

When all of the tarts are made, place the tart pans on a baking sheet and bake immediately or refrigerate until ready to bake. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 40 minutes.

Now, obviously you can make these with canned pie filling and any fruit should work here. I served these with vanilla bean ice cream and everyone really loved them. I threw them in the oven while we were all enjoying our dinner, so our house smelled super delicious and they were still warm to enjoy for dessert.

So, if you need an easy fruit and puff pastry dessert recipe, hopefully this helps you out. We’re all ready for the next round of holidays, right? Happy Thanksgiving weekend, everyone!