Turkey Cups

Confession: I was quickly getting over all the Thanksgiving food posts on the blogosphere. I wasn't cooking Thanksgiving Dinner, so why does that mean I have to dig through old recipes to find something for dinner? Geesh. Don't worry, I have repented of my flawed ways. One day I will be cooking Thanksgiving Dinner and will appreciate all the help cooks far better than me can give. I found this recipe on the Novice Chef blog and instantly thought it was a genius idea. In fact, I cooked a whole turkey (the smallest one I could find of course) just so I could make these. Hunter always loves the idea of pot pies, so these seemed like a perfect option.

This was my first time ever using a puffed pastry and they are the coolest thing! I was a little worried at first about being able to fit anything in to the frozen half inch dough thing that I pulled out of the box, but much to my surprise and delight they puffed right up, just as their name implies. haha. This turned out to be a wonderful dinner and I might just cook another whole turkey in the future to make them again.

Recipe:

Yield: 12 cups

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp flour

18 oz evaporated milk (I think I only used 17 because that was what the cans added up to and I wasn't going to open another can for only 1 oz)

2 cups cooked, chopped turkey

3/4 cup chopped celery

1/2 onion

Small can of chopped olives

1/2 tbsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp white pepper (I didn't know this even existed until this recipe)

2 boxes of Pepperidge Farm Pastry Cups

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Put the pastry cups about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined in parchment paper. Cook on the middle rack for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. 

While the pastry cups are baking, melt butter over a medium flame. Sift in flour and whisk together to make a paste. Slowly stir in condensed milk, whisking the entire time to avoid lumps. Once a gravy-like consistency has been reached, gently stir in the turkey, celery, onion, olives, salt, pepper, and white pepper. Keep the mixture on low until the pastry cups are done.

Once pastry cups are golden brown, remove from the oven and carefully pop out the centers and fill them with the turkey mixture. Put the tops back on top and enjoy!

Source: slightly adapted from The Novice Chef