By Shannon Sarna (from The Nosher, www.thenosher.com)

Is there anything better than waking up the day after Thanksgiving and raiding the fridge full of leftovers while everyone else is elbowing one another at the mall? My favorite Thanksgiving leftovers were always the excess crescent rolls slathered in butter next to some stuffing and a heaping pile of glazed sweet potatoes. A few carbs during the holidays never hurt anyone. But there comes a point sometime on the Saturday or Sunday after Thanksgiving where you just can’t look at another plate of turkey and glazed sweet potatoes. You are craving something different, but ahhh – who wants to waste all those leftovers?

Fret no more because I have your solution: bite-sized Thanksgiving knishes made with leftover mashed potatoes, turkey and cranberry sauce. Combine these mini-treats with some cranberry mustard dipping sauce and leftovers never sounded so good!

A few variations on this recipe: Substitute the mashed potatoes with leftover stuffing or mashed sweet potatoes; substitute the cranberry sauce inside the knishes for leftover gravy.

The possibilities are endless, or at least as endless as your leftovers!

Ingredients:

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed for 30 minutes

1 cup cranberry sauce, divided

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp whole grain mustard

1/2 cup leftover mashed potato

1/2 – 3/4 cup leftover turkey, diced

1 egg, beaten

All purpose flour for rolling out puff pastry

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry on all sides so that dough stretches slightly. Cut into 9 even squares.

Using fingers stretch each square just a little bit more. Add tsp of mashed potatoes, a few pieces of turkey and tsp of cranberry sauce on each square.

Fold each point of the puff pastry up and pinch at the top. Twist puff pastry and then push down. Repeat.

Brush each knish with beaten egg.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown.

While knishes bake, mix ½ cup cranberry sauce with 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard and 1/2 tsp whole grain mustard. Spicy brown mustard can also be substituted. Whisk together until smooth.

Serve knishes while warm with cranberry mustard.