Thanksgiving Leftovers: Cranberry Pear Dessert Recipe

Thanksgiving is over and I have some leftovers from last night. We always have extra cranberry jelly, and this year I decided to turn it into a mousse. But cranberries can be a little tart, so I added pears to balance the flavor of the dessert.

When serving mousse, I always try to pair the smooth, airy dessert with something of more substantial texture. I topped each mousse with a garnish of diced pears with dried cranberries as a reminder of the flavors in the mousse, plus a sprinkle of crushed pistachio for added color and crunch. The result is a fabulous dessert that no one will guess was made from Thanksgiving leftovers!

Pumpkin Mousse Recipe

I’ve made a lot of desserts and drinks with pumpkin in the past. It’s a very versatile ingredient. Recently, I added pumpkin mousse to the list of pumpkin dishes I've tried, and I have to say, it came out wonderfully. It's denser than your typically mousse due to the thickness of pumpkin purée.

Compared to a pumpkin pie, the mousse is more subtly flavored, but still captures the essence of this quintessential Thanksgiving ingredient. Individually served in small cups or more generously in a parfait cup, pumpkin mousse would make an elegant addition to any Thanksgiving dinner table.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee Recipe

We recently hosted a dinner party and I wanted to bring a little flair of the Fall season. With Thanksgiving coming, I decided to make a pumpkin crème brûlée. I would consider myself an expert when it comes to make these cute French desserts. I've made crèmes brûlées so many times (lavender, banana, cherry, masala chai, green tea, lemon, chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch), I could make them with my eyes closed, except the brûlée part . That would end badly, I’m sure.

The result was predictably delicious. Crème brûlée flavored with just about anything tastes great, but that doesn’t give you license to make a turkey-flavored version. If it was made savory though, it might be interesting. Something to think about. At any rate, pumpkin crème brûlée is a familiar, yet fresh take on Thanksgiving dessert that deserves a place at your dinner table.

Green Tea Cake Roll Recipe

Cake rolls, as the name implies, are cakes that are spread with jelly or buttercream and then rolled into logs. The French name is roulade. For this recipe, I decided to use matcha green tea because of its very delicate flavor. It also gives the cake (called génoise in French) a beautiful jade green color. I filled and covered the cake with vanilla butter-cream and kept the flavors appropriately Zen in their simplicity.

Matcha green tea is fairly expensive and has a very short shelf life, so once the box is unsealed, consume it fast. Enjoy it as is with hot water or flavor your favorite desserts with the green tea powder. I had a little less than one tablespoon left in the tin. I think I had made pretty good use of it with desserts such as Vietnamese agar agar desserts, tea lattés, crème brulées and ice cream.

Nutella Crepes with Kiwi

Chocolate and kiwi are two of my favorite flavors. When combined, they enhance one another, creating subtleties that cannot be found in either ingredient on its own. In the past I've used them in cakes and other desserts, and today I thought it would be fun to use the combo as a crepe filling.

The chocolate part of the equation is satisfied by the French mainstay Nutella. Nutella, in case you don't know, is a chocolate hazelnut spread. I wasn't sure at first how the hazelnuts would play with kiwi, but after tasting the finished product, I can't imagine it any other way!