Ingredients (Sweet potatoes):

• 3 cups mashed sweet potatoes (~1 large 2lb 8oz can ‘Bruce’s Yams’)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 stick butter

Ingredients (Topping):

• 1 cup ground corn flakes (or frosted flakes)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 3/4 stick butter
• 1 cup brown sugar

Directions:

1. Mash sweet potatoes together with vanilla, eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and butter (small bits of unmelted butter will be present after mashing)
2. In a separate bowl, combine topping butter with ground corn flakes, chopped walnuts, and brown sugar (make sure mixture is mostly uniform, no large chunks of butter should remain)
3. Grease baking dish
4. Spread mashed sweet potato mixture into dish
5. Spread topping mixture over sweet potatoes evenly
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes

The sweetness of this dish almost puts it in the desert category.  It’s very tasty–a wonderful thanksgiving companion to more savory dishes.

• 1 box family size brownie mix
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3 tbsp. water
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup chocolate chips (or peanut butter chips or butterscotch chips)
• 1/2 of a jar of peanut butter (~16 oz)

Directions:

1. Combine brownie mix, flour, vegetable oil, water, eggs, and chocolate chips
2. Heat peanut butter in a small bowl for 30-60 seconds (until it can be poured out of the bowl)
3. Thoroughly mix 3/4 of the peanut butter in with brownie mix
4. Gently fold remaining 1/4 of peanut butter into mix (don’t mix completely, leave peanut butter visible)
5. Spoon dollops of mix onto cookie sheets (non-stick foil preferred), note cookies don’t spread out much during baking
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes, depending on consistency of mix

Be careful to watch the cookies as they bake so you avoid burning the bottoms.  Don’t let them cook until they look like they are done.  Taking them out when they still look uncooked (but slightly crusted on the top) is fine.  The cookies will sit up and harden when cooling.  They are a bit different from traditional cookies as they are based on brownie mix.

Ingredients:

• 1 package rolled up croissant pastry dough
• 1 can fruit filling (apple, cherry, blueberry, etc.)
• Melted butter
• Large granule sugar

Directions:

1. Roll out croissant dough triangles
2. At the large end of the triangle, put a small amount of filling
3. Roll dough with filling up, starting from large end of the triangle
4. Brush butter over top of turnover
5. Sprinkle sugar over top of turnovers
6. Bake at 350 degrees for ~20 mins, or until pasty dough is golden brown

We’ve found that adding 5-6 cherries (with very little cherry sauce) is the right amount of filling.  Also, about 2-3 apple slices seems to work well.  Also, brushing the butter over top of the turnovers helps to brown the dough a bit.  The sugar makes them a bit sweeter and look pretty.  Also, as is probably true with most pastries, it’s better to let them cool on a cooling rack so the bottoms don’t get soggy (see pictures).