Happy Turkey Day - Super-Easy Holiday Desserts + What to do with Leftover Cranberry Sauce

Today is Thanksgiving in Canada, and with the husband out of town, the kid and I had dinner with friends.  It was great. And I made a discovery that I'm going to share with you today. You Canadians can make use of it with your leftovers, Americans can use it next month.

As a preface, you'll probably want some homemade cranberry sauce for this. It can be made ahead and is the easiest thing in the world to make. I blogged on it last year; find it here. Basically, it's just fresh cranberries cooked down with sugar and enough water to get them to the consistency you like. A little orange peel &/or orange juice is a good addition, and some pecan pieces can be thrown in at the end if you'd like some additional texture and flavor. Make lots - I'm going to give you new uses for it.

Jessica, our host for Thanksgiving Dinner, did a wonderful job of cooking all that food on her own in between work and all she does that's above-and-beyond for the local youth center and friends. Her dinner was a great example of how to bring it all together in today's hectic pace. She had each family that attended bring one side dish, and the desserts were store-bought. At the wholesale club, she had purchased a huge, delicious pumpkin pie and a package of frozen creme puffs, along with Redi-Whip. It's real dairy and a great timesaver.

So, vizualize a piece of velvety pumpkin pie with a dollop of whipped cream on your dessert plate, and a cup of coffee. The perfect ending to a perfect turkey dinner, right? Well, yes, most people would think so. But a flash of inspiration struck. Add a bit of holiday color and flavor to that vignette by adding another topping - leftover cranberry sauce! It was delicious, tasted even more like the holidays, and was so very appealing, visually.

Alternatively, serve several creme puffs in a puddle of homemade cranberry sauce then drizzled with chocolate syrup. You could also serve them in a bed of whipped cream or custard with either cranberry sauce or chocolate sauce, or both.

Now, if you still have leftover cranberry sauce, it's absolutely delicious on turkey sandwiches with cream cheese. See the turkey sandwich post here.

And if you STILL have leftover cranberry sauce, I bet it'd be scrumptious mixed into orange jello.

Homemade cranberry sauce - one of the many things I'm grateful for.