Got Thanksgiving Leftovers? Make These Kid-Friendly Muffin Cups

Stacked-high turkey sandwiches, bites of pie straight from the tin…leftovers are one of the best things about Thanksgiving, aren’t they? Even if you’re cooking for a smaller group, traditional recipes tend to leave you with a full fridge, so put those Tupperwares to good use with this kid-approved recipe from Lizzy Mathis of The Cool Mom Co. Her clever reimagining of turkey and sides as mini savory pies is basically Thanksgiving dinner in miniature—pretty perfect for a year when we’re all about celebrating the small stuff.

Lizzy Mathis’ Soul Roll Muffin Cups Recipe

Yield: 12 cups
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

Flour, for dusting surface
Butter or Thrive Market Organic Ghee
2 pie shells; use premade or make your own with the recipe below
Any leftovers you have on hand, such as:
Mac ‘n’ cheese
Turkey, chopped
Mashed potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Sauteed greens
Cranberry sauce
1 egg, lightly beaten

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350F. Flour your work surface and roll out your pie shell dough with a rolling pin. Using a drinking glass or round cookie cutter, cut circles out of the dough. Note that the circles should be a little bigger than your muffin cups so the dough can hang over the edge of the tin.

Roll out the remaining dough and cut it into strips (about 1 inch wide). Set strips aside.

Grease the cups of your muffin tin with butter or ghee. Place one dough circle in each cup of the muffin tin. Working with one teaspoon at a time, fill each muffin cup to just below the top with layers of leftovers.

Top each muffin cup with strips of dough, making a lattice pattern. Press the edges of the strips into the edges of the dough in each muffin cup to attach.

Using a pastry brush, gently coat the top of the muffin cups with egg. Place the muffin tins in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the tops of the muffin cups are golden brown. Remove from tin and let cool slightly before serving.

If you’re making your own pie crust with the recipe below, adjust the baking temperature to 400F and adjust the cook time to 20 minutes. If the tops of the muffin cups start to get too dark, cover with foil.

How to Make Gluten-Free Pie Crust

No one would fault you for using store-bought pie crust, especially after preparing a full Thanksgiving meal. But if you want to go the DIY route, here’s a recipe for a gluten-free pie crust made from scratch. Click here for more tips on baking your own pie crust.

Ingredients

3 cups Thrive Market Almond Flour
1 cup Thrive Market Organic Tapioca Flour
2 tablespoons Thrive Market Organic Coconut Sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
12 tablespoons cold butter, cubed
2 large eggs, plus 1 additional beaten egg for brushing the top(s) of your pie or muffin cups

Instructions

Combine almond flour, tapioca flour, coconut sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Working quickly, blend in cold butter with a pastry blender or 2 butter knives until the texture resembles coarse crumbs. Add 2 eggs and mix until the dough comes together.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and form into a disk. Halve the disk (make one piece slightly larger than the other) and shape into rounds. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Once dough is chilled, roll it out until it is roughly ¼ inch thick and cut as needed for your recipe.