How to Pull off the Perfect Early Fall Picnic

The leaves haven’t turned, and it feels like summer still. There’s a whiff now and then of some cool relief, and when that happens, dive into your closet and uncover your picnic blanket. You know, the one you might’ve used for the beach. Or lake. Or park. We can still go to those places, you know. Some of us can lounge outside on blankets all year long (We’re looking at you, Southern California and Florida).

And while we’re all lolling about on the grass reveling in nature, it would be nice if someone fed us grapes like those privileged Greeks back in the day, no? Well, a lot of things would be nice. Here’s something you can make nice yourself: a lovely, well-thought-out picnic feast.

The formula for an idyllic early fall picnic starts with the first factor, the people. Then food and supplies. It’s OK to pack light on this occasion, especially while it’s still hot outside. Just bring enough little nibbly components that people can graze on all afternoon — and dessert. Oh, don’t forget the cups. Or a cutting knife. Someone’s always forgetting one essential thing. We have a checklist at the end of this article to prevent that mishap.

And the ideal location? Well, you’re on your own for that. But we’re here to help with all those other parts that can lead to picnicking perfection. Your shopping, cooking, and packing strategy depends on how many people will be eating outdoors with you.

For 2 people:

Bring half of each recipe you make. You don’t want to run out, but you don’t want too much left over either. So if you make a cold pasta salad, bring half of that if you don’t have a lot of other substantial food. If you do, just bring two or three servings. Two sandwiches, tops. If you’re going the cheese and charcuterie route, buy one cheese and one cured meat, and bring half of each. One bottle of wine, a six-pack of good craft beer, or a couple thermoses of homemade Arnold Palmers should do it. If you’re just bringing wine or beer, be sure to bring water too.

As for smaller nibbles, don’t cart in the whole heavy glass jar of pickles or olives. Just put a few in a re-sealable, leak-proof container. Fruit is a must. Those previously mentioned grapes taste delicious with cheese, and they’re so portable. Figs are just the best ever. Do that. And apples are the obvious — if not too obvious — choice. But slice them ahead of time and dip the slices in water with a bit of lemon in it to keep the apples from browning.

For 6 to 8 people:

When the picnicking with a small crowd, you’ll think in more technical terms. For cheese and charcuterie, buy two kinds of cheese, semi-hard or semi-soft, and two salumi of varying textures. Plan to have 2 ounces of each selection per person. So that would be 12 to 16 ounces of each meat and cheese you choose. If you’re serving fruit and other sides, there’s no need for more. Crackers are easier than bread, but if you crave a crusty, hearty loaf or stick of French bread (because you’re human!), by all means bring that and feel free to rip off hunks instead of slicing.

Three bottles of wine and two beers per person should work. Have others bring more if they want this to be more party than picnic. That stuff is heavy. You’ll need a jar’s worth of pickles and olives. One bunch of grapes and four sliced peaches, if they’re still in season. Bring one batch of each salad recipe. The more options you have, the less you need of each one. A dozen cookies, minimum. That’s non-negotiable.

Check out these fine supplies you can pick up for your picnic:

Govino Wine Glasses (Buy it here)

Dean & DeLuca

Drink your wine (or whatever) in an elegant yet practical shatter-proof, food-safe, BPA-free polymer which reflects a wine’s color and projects its aromatics much like crystal. Govino can be used and recycled. They’re light and easy for picnics. These “glasses” were the winner of the bronze IDEA award in 2012 for international design excellence, and winner of the Good Design award in 2010 by the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design. $13. Buy it.

Uplands Cheese Company Pleasant Ridge Reserve, Extra Aged (Buy it here)

Dean & DeLuca

Nibble on the 2010 American Cheese Society Winner: Best in Show and a 2011 American Cheese Society Winner. A maturation process that lasts 12 to 18 months intensifies the flavors of this cheese, especially the sweetness. Pleasant Ridge Reserve is produced between spring and fall with the milk from pasture-fed cows. Made in Wisconsin, it is an Alpine-style cheese, similar to a Gruyere. It has a savory, round, nutty flavor that picnickers will go for. One order is 6 ounces. $30. Buy it.

Iberico Jamon (Buy it here)

Dean & DeLuca

Floral, nutty, sweet, and earthy: The finest ham on the globe doesn’t come cheap or easily. The Pata Negra pigs of Spain forage solely on acorns that fall from oak and cork trees, which results in the most flavorful pork marbled with fat so tender it melts in your mouth. See what the fuss is about with two ounces of Fermin’s best Iberico Jamon at your picnic for two. $20. Buy it.

Rosemary Crackers (Buy it here)

Dean & DeLuca

These crisp crackers flavored with rosemary go beautifully with soft and semi-soft cheeses, spreads, and salumi. They’re perfect for a picnic. $7.50. Buy it.

Hickory Smoked Almonds (Buy it here)

Dean & DeLuca

Raw almonds are nice and all, but smoked almonds taste even better. Hickory smoked? Now we’re really talking. Plus, they’re super convenient and portable. $7.25. Buy it.

Nocellara Mini Olives (Buy it here)

Dean & DeLuca

Crunchy and almost sweet, these Nocellara Italian olives are great for munching on the go with this single serving that includes a little fork. Their lightly briny taste and firm texture are a delightful accompaniment to any picnic spread, especially a cheese and charcuterie one. $5. Buy it.

Dean & Deluca Signature Cutting and Serving Board (Buy it here)

Dean & DeLuca

This 20-inch paddle-shaped cutting board was designed to be the ideal vehicle for both cutting and serving cheeses and meats on your picnic blanket. It’s crafted from solid, kiln-dried maple from the northeastern United States and treated with a food-safe stain. It’s $48. Buy it.

Meyer Lemon Shortbread (Buy it here)

Dean & DeLuca

Don’t forget the cookies on your picnic! Sweet and tangy Meyer lemons make this buttery shortbread a wonderful early fall treat. $6.75. Buy it.

You’ll also want to make a couple dishes that hold up well in transport and still-warm weather:

Cold Pasta Salad with Baby Artichokes

Chowhound

Teardrop or cherry tomatoes, garlic, A cold pasta salad makes a simple side to serve at barbecues or picnics, and this one has a punch of extra flavor from salty ricotta salata cheese. Preparing the artichokes takes a few extra minutes, but you can substitute frozen artichoke hearts to save time or if you can’t find baby artichokes. Once you boil the pasta, just toss everything together and as the salad sits, the flavors will meld. Get our Cold Pasta Salad with Baby Artichokes recipe.

Chinese-y Chicken Salad

Chowhound

If you want something like chicken or tuna salad, but you don’t want mayonnaise sitting outside for hours (you don’t), then go for this chicken salad. The dressing has vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil, chile paste, ginger, honey, hoisin sauce, and scallions. And just what does this dressing dress? Well, there’s shredded cold rotisserie chicken, slivered almonds, thinly sliced medium red bell pepper, English cucumber strips, red cabbage, green cabbage, and iceberg lettuce. Get our Chinese-y Chicken Salad recipe.

Prosciutto Palmiers

Chowhound

Store-bought frozen puff pastry is so convenient for easy, last-minute picnic snacks like this savory version of palmiers, a classic French pastry. Brush some tomato paste over the thawed pastry, layer on prosciutto and Gruyère cheese, and bake until golden and flaky. Get our Prosciutto Palmiers recipe.

Fresh Corn and Tomato Salad

Chowhound

Make this while the tomatoes and corn are still fresh and local. This simple salad of in-season tomatoes and sweet corn will breathe new life into your early fall picnic. You can make it up to eight hours ahead, though you may want to mix the basil in at the last minute so it doesn’t wilt or discolor. Get our Fresh Corn and Tomato Salad recipe.

Pickled Radish and Sweet Butter Tea Sandwiches

Chowhound

Anything pickled goes so well with something rich and meaty like picnic charcuterie. The contrast works. So try pickling radishes to give them a sweet and tangy bite for these elegant little sandwiches. Slather soft white bread with butter, and use watercress for a peppery crunch. The pickled radishes need to be made at least one day in advance, so plan on that. Get our Pickled Radish and Sweet Butter Tea Sandwiches recipe.

Shortbread Lemon Bars

Chowhound

If you’re not buying lemon shortbread cookies, make the bar version yourself. The appeal of lemon bars is stems from the buttery shortbread crust and the intensely tart lemon-curd filling. It’s irresistible. Get our Shortbread Lemon Bars recipe.

Picnic Packing Checklist:

• Drinks
• Food (no mayonnaise!)
• Ice packs for keeping food cool, or freeze water bottles, which you can drink as they defrost
• Resealable, leak-proof containers
• Corkscrew or bottle opener
• Eco-friendly plates
• Eco-friendly cups
• Reuseable utensils
• Serving utensils like a serving spoon or tongs
• Cutting knife with a cover or kitchen towel wrapped around the blade
• Mini cutting board
• Cloth napkins
• Moist towlettes/paper towels
• Trash bags
• Big blanket that’s not precious to you
• Picnic basket, backpack, or bag
• Friends/lover (but only if pronounced “luuuvah”)/family/dog

See how to plan a perfect winter picnic too.

Related Video: What You Must Know When Packing a Picnic

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The History of Foie Gras (and Why It’s Controversial)

Foie gras, which literally translates to “fatty liver” in French, is the rich, buttery, and silky product of a fattened goose or duck liver. While it can be prepared many ways and has grown in popularity both as an ingredient and delicacy around the world, it is generally synonymous with French cuisine—and with controversy surrounding how it is made. In fact, depending on where you live, the sale or production of foie gras may be outlawed, which has only increased interest and curiosity in its origins.

So, what’s the history of foie gras anyway?

“Foie gras, or the technique of gavage, is something that dates back to the ancient Egyptians,” says Franck Ete, the preferred private chef of Chateau de Courtomer, a distinguished French chateau open to guests that is located in the Orne region of Normandy.

Food historian Cathy Kaufman adds that cave paintings show what looks like workers cramming food down the gullets of geese during this period. “Jews in medieval Europe were known to force feed geese—probably to get fat in addition to the rich livers, as they couldn’t eat pork fat—although Jewish religious leaders of the 12th century thought the practice cruel, and therefore not kosher,” she adds.

Chef Mariana Alegría, who serves a scrumptious version of foie gras at Le Basilic, a fine dining French institution located in Cancun’s Grand Fiesta Americana Coral Beach Cancun, says foie gras spread further through the Roman Empire. “The Romans were all about excess, so it fit perfectly for them,” she says. “It was also known that many Popes loved foie gras and asked for it in luxurious dinners too. The noble class in Germany then started demanding it and producing it near Alsace, France, which is how it was introduced in that country.”

Chef Franck Ete preparing foie gras, Chateau de Courtomer

When it comes to la France, the country that would eventually popularize foie gras for the world, Ete tells us it was enjoyed there during the Renaissance by many of the lavish kings of the court. “When their tastes trickled down to the middle-class population, the rich food culture that we know today became an intricate part of [French] society,” he says. Kaufman adds: “Recipes with ‘fat liver’ start to show up in important mid-17th century French cookbooks which probably explains why it is important in France.”

Today, foie gras is very much considered a delicacy in French cuisine and is protected and controlled in a similar way as its wine and cheese-making processes. Ete notes, “It’s so much so that French law states that ‘foie gras belongs to the protected cultural and gastronomic heritage of France,’” which is France’s really cute way of saying: We’ve perfected it and probably make it best.

Related Video: How to Store Foie Gras

Why is foie gras so controversial?

Simply put, foie gras is produced by gavage, or force-feeding geese or ducks so that their livers become fattened up. “Gavage became mechanized in the 20th century, leading to complaints by animal rights activists both in the U.S. and Europe,” says Kaufman. “In the 1990s, a convention was reached that changed rearing environments to be more animal-friendly.” But even still, the process continues to be condemned by animal welfare advocates. According to PETA:

“To produce foie gras, workers ram pipes down the throats of male ducks or geese two or three times a day and pump as much as 4 pounds of grain and fat into their stomachs, causing their livers to swell to up to 10 times their normal size. They feel extremely ill, and many have difficulty standing or even breathing because of their engorged livers.”

“Either you love or you hate foie gras, but the one thing you need to remember is to respect the product, to respect the animal, honor the goose or duck in the dish you are preparing,” says Alegría. “I think it would be an awful thing if you waste a product that had suffered in the making.”

Should you choose to eat it, how is foie gras prepared?

“I almost always serve foie gras for guests at the Château as I feel it’s representative of classic French Gastronomy, and this region,” Ete tells us. Below, he shares a few preparation ideas.

Foie Gras Torchon, ChefSteps

Cold preparations: Cold preparations are more time consuming since they require low-heat cooking methods. Generally, they end up as foie terrines, pâtés, parfaits, foams, and mousses, often flavored with truffle, mushrooms, or brandy. These are then chilled and served at or below room temperature. Raw foie gras can also simply be cured in salt (cru au sel), served slightly chilled.

Hot preparations: Raw foie gras can additionally be roasted, sautéed, pan-seared (poêlé), or even grilled. Since there is such a high fat content, contact with heat needs to be hot and fast so it doesn’t melt in your pan! I personally prefer to de-vein the foie gras, but some chefs prefer not to de-vein the foie gras, as the veins can help preserve the integrity of the fatty liver. I then cut it into one-half- to one-inch pieces and sear over very high heat, keeping the middle medium-rare. Hot foie gras requires minimal spices; typically black pepper and salt. I use fleur de sel as a gourmet seasoning for hot foie gras to add a small textural aspect with its crunch. I particularly love cooking foie gras with apples and calvados, giving it a real Normandy twist!

Duck, Duck, Dinner

Seared Duck Breasts with Raspberry-Honey Glaze

Foie Gras with Toasted Hazelnuts

Slow Cooker Duck Confit

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How to Make Poached Pears, the Easiest Fall Dessert Ever

All the Spoons You Didn’t Know You Needed in Life

When you think of the superior utensil, you think about spoons. Or at least you should. Their shape has so many applications that dozens of specialty spoons are available for niche use cases.

Of course, at home, you’re in charge, so feel free to eat cereal with a demitasse spoon. Also, take pictures because that sounds equally impossible and adorable.

Cooking and Serving

2018 will go down in history for many culinary reasons and the “year of the egg spoon” is certainly one of them. There are two kinds of eggs spoons when it comes to cooking eggs.

Alice Waters’ egg spoon, Permanent Collection

One is the frequently fought about hand-forged iron spoon that you ideally slide into the fireplace/wood-burning range—which you definitely have—to cook a single egg. You could also just use a camping skillet. The other is essentially a slotted spoon with one or more holes that nestles boiled or poached eggs.

The slotted spoon is a type of skimmer, a broadly interpreted sieve tool for removing solid foods from water or broth. Slots can be rectangular or circular with a wide variety of opening widths.

Mixing spoons can have round or flat tips, but they usually have shallow bowls for tasting. On the other end of the spectrum, you’re familiar with ladles serving up portions of soups, stews, and chili.

Serving spoon (aka tablespoon), Sur la Table

Serving spoons are also known as…tablespoons. Yep, everything you know about spoons is a lie. Tablespoons specifically hold three teaspoons and are great for dishing out foods at the table. Tablespoons originally had some soup eating and dessert applications, but have fallen to the wayside of smaller, mouth-sized spoons.

You have a few different options when it comes to sauces. The more common sauce spoon is a shallower serving spoon (but bigger than a tablespoon) used to disperse sauce over a dish. A French sauce spoon, used to scoop up the sauce from a meat dish, is fairly flat with a notch on the side. A saucier or spoon drop has a spout which funnels sauce for more precise plating of savory and sweet foods.

Amuse bouch spoons, Sur la Table

An amuse-bouche spoon’s design often sits in between a saucier and a Chinese spoon. It’s technically a plate and a spoon, and you only really use it for these one-bite appetizers.

Dining and Soup Spoons

A place spoon can be used for anything you want. No rules. Pure anarchy. Okay, it shines with cream soups and desserts, but really, go wild! It’s a little bigger than a teaspoon, but smaller than a tablespoon. You’re probably thinking of a place spoon or a soup spoon when you think “tablespoon.”

Teaspoons are fairly informal, often used to stir tea and coffee, but they can also be used as a dessert spoon in a pinch. Dessert spoons are the precise volume midpoint between a tablespoon and a teaspoon, and they are used for their named purpose.

Bouillon spoon, Amazon

In the world of European soup spoons, you have three essential types: a bouillon spoon, soup spoon, and a cream soup spoon. Bouillon spoons are round and have the shallowest bowl because they’re used for light soups. A soup spoon (or dinner spoon) has the deepest bowl to help it handle foods like vegetables or ravioli, and it’s oval-shaped, so you can put the entire bowl in your mouth. The round cream soup spoon’s bowl depth and handle length sit in the middle of these two.

Bouillon and cream soup spoons are usually sipping spoons, but the latter are sometimes called gumbo spoons (used for chunky dishes like gumbo, chili, and chowder).

Chinese spoon, Crate & Barrel

In Asia, two spoons dominate: the Chinese soup spoon and the Korean spoon. The Chinese spoon is used in several Asian countries and is easily recognizable by its flat-bottomed bowl and hook handle. These spoons can be used for soups or to hold foods like dumplings.

The Korean spoon can also be called a sujeo, but that term often refers to the common metal spoon-chopstick set. The Korean spoon has a bowl similar to a bouillon spoon with a longer handle, finding its home in soups or rice.

Beyond the Teaspoon: Beverage Spoons

When it comes to cold drinks, you’re dealing with two very similar spoons featuring shallow, teaspoon-capacity bowls and long handles. The iced tea spoon is a summer staple in the southern states, allowing guests to adjust the sweetness of their drink, but also works in tall parfaits, sundaes, floats, and thick milkshakes.

Bar spoon, Williams Sonoma

Bar or cocktail spoons facilitate the pouring and stirring of alcoholic drinks with their (usually) grooved handles. They occasionally have bowls that sit at a 45 degree or less angle to the handle for swizzling rum cocktails.

After dinner or at your local small coffee shop, you can find a demitasse (a.k.a. espresso) spoon. These little spoons can also be used to stir in sugar and milk into tea cups. Speaking of sugar, sugar spoons tend to look like a sea hell or a little shovel. You should never use them to stir because they have to return to the sugar bowl!

Demitasse spoons, Amazon

Very Specific Spoons

Grapefruit spoons, can actually be used for any citrus fruits, but they are most often carving into their namesake with their serrated edges.

Guess what? There’s another type of egg spoon! This one is for eating soft boiled eggs out of the shell. This dining habit has gradually fallen out of style, but some people still swear by it.

Eating bone marrow has had waves of mainstream popularity over the centuries and it’s back in the culinary lexicon. Marrow spoons have long, shovel-like bowls on both ends—one for larger and the other for smaller bones—for easy scooping.

Sur la Table

Speaking of scoops, the ice cream spoons have more rounded, shovel-inspired bowls with long handles (but not quite as long as an iced tea spoon). These spoons are used with ice cream, gelato, and shaved ice.

Silver baby food spoons are still gifted, but practically speaking, there are some pretty cool options for the littlest mouths these days. You can get a spoon that dispenses puréed food from a reservoir for one-handed feeding or fun silicone spoons for when your tiny tykes start wanting to feed themselves.

Related Video: How to Peel Hard Boiled Eggs with a Spoon

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Rethink Fall Produce With These 11 Slaw Recipes

Fall produce works its way into farmers’ markets and grocery stores pretty quickly: one moment you’re feasting on summer corn and tomatoes, the next, it’s all about roots and cruciferous veggies. And in the same swoop, you find yourself transitioning from bright and cheery salads to stew-y and roasted dishes to go along with the sudden change in seasons. The months ahead promise a parade of gratins, bakes, and mashes worthy of a hibernation diet.

But while autumn’s harvest may seem best suited for being cooked into oblivion, it’s actually hiding some great fresh veggies in its midst. It’s just that they need a little coaxing. A slaw can turn even the hardiest roots and stalks into something vibrant and pleasantly crunchy: just shred and slice your produce thin and let it pickle slightly in vinaigrette, then watch any cases of the cold-weather vegetable blues slip away.

To get yourself out of a fall produce funk, you can turn to one of these seasonal slaws—here are eleven recipes that keep things bright and fresh.

1. Fennel-Apple Slaw

Chowhound

Fennel and apple each bring their own flavors to the table, with fennel’s anise overtones and apple’s signature tartness. With such strong personalities, they only need an extra-light vinaigrette to dress them up, getting just the slightest spike from a white wine vinegar and olive oil mixture. Get our Fennel-Apple Slaw recipe.

2. Kale-Apple Coleslaw with Poppy Seed Dressing

Never mind those leaden, mayonnaise-heavy versions of coleslaw, the ones that usually end up uneaten at the edge of your plate. This perky kale and apple version gives the stuff a long overdue update. Get our Kale-Apple Coleslaw with Poppy Seed Dressing recipe.

3. Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad

Chowhound

Raw Brussels sprouts are nothing like their mushy, boiled counterparts. When finely shredded, they have an addictively crunchy, feathery texture with lots of ridges and crannies that excel at picking up drops of dressing. Get our Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad recipe.

4. Carrot Slaw

Chowhound

For such hardy root vegetables, carrots do an awfully good job of soaking in the flavors of whatever you marinate them in. These shreds are loaded with a kick of mustard, red wine vinegar, and aromatic orange zest. Get our Carrot Slaw recipe.

5. Kohlrabi and Cabbage Slaw with Tahini Lemon Dressing

Dishing Up the Dirt

Kohlrabi and cabbage both have tons of crunch, but they are pretty mild-mannered in the flavor department. A strong dressing, like the sesame tahini one in this recipe, will give them the boost they need. Get the recipe here.

6. Crunchy Turnip, Apple, and Brussels Sprout Slaw

Bon Appetit

Brussels sprout leaves are kind of like the low-budget version of fancy-schmancy microgreens. Toss them with julienned turnips and apples for a dish that blurs the line between slaw and salad. Get the recipe here.

7. Cauliflower Slaw

Smitten Kitchen

Cauliflower may be a surprising choice for a slaw, but somehow it just works, especially with pumped up garnishes like fried capers and dried currants. Get the recipe here.

8. Pear, Gorgonzola, and Pecan Brussels Sprouts Slaw

Orchard Street Kitchen

Pears, pecans, gorgonzola crumbles, and Brussels sprouts are everything you want them to be: a little bit sweet and a little bit salty with plenty of crunch. Get the recipe here.

9. Simple Fall Slaw

Minimalist Baker

Show your love for seasonal produce with this recipe that packs in virtually all of fall’s bounty: carrots, beets, broccoli, apples, and beyond. Get the recipe here.

10. Cilantro Lime Sweet Potato Slaw

Back to Her Roots

You’ve probably had your fair share of baked sweet potatoes and sweet potato fries. Get to know a whole new side of them by trimming them raw into matchstick shapes and allowing them to soak in the flavors of ginger and lime. Get the recipe here.

11. Kielbasa with Warm Apple-Bacon Slaw

Chowhound

Just because slaws are vegetable-based doesn’t mean that you can’t find ways to work some meat into them. This red cabbage and apple version is dressed in bacon fat and topped with pieces of smoky kielbasa. Get our Kielbasa with Warm Apple-Bacon Slaw recipe.

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How to Use Crescent Roll Dough for Ultra Easy Dishes from Breakfast to Dessert

There’s a lot to be said for slow food, and even for truly labor-intensive food, but sometimes you just need a shortcut in the kitchen, like Bisquick or boxed cake mix—or crescent roll dough. It stars in all sorts of dishes, from appetizers and breakfasts to dinners and desserts, and is a worthy secret weapon to keep on hand.

The dough bakes up tender and flaky with a crisp golden-brown crust no matter what form you use it in, so you can stuff it, braid it, use it as a crust or topping, take it sweet or savory, fry it, even give it a little baking soda bath to make it more like a pretzel (more on that below).

While many crescent roll dough recipes use butter, Pillsbury—the original refrigerated crescent roll brand, first marketed in the 1960s—actually uses palm oil, so their product is vegan. If you object to palm oil, though, just check the label of whatever brands you find in your store; organic ones usually use butter. In any case, the dough is fairly elastic and easy to roll out or simply stretch into shape if you need a single large sheet, and if it does tear, you can just gently pinch the edges back together with your fingertips.

The hardest part of any of these recipes, really, is working up the nerve to actually pop open the tube. (Seriously, does anyone else flinch uncontrollably before the edge of a spoon even touches the cardboard to break the pressurized seal?) Of course, while it defeats the purpose of quick convenience, you can absolutely make your own homemade crescent roll dough too if you prefer! Your options are practically endless.

Baked Gouda with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

Chowhound

When using the whole sheet of crescent roll dough, just gently press the perforated seams together to seal them up, then wrap the dough around a wheel of gouda (or any other meltable cheese), with the condiments of your choice on the inside too. Here, there’s pesto and sun-dried tomatoes, but grainy mustard and toasted walnuts work well too. Get our Baked Gouda with Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto recipe.

Bacon Quiche Tarts

Chowhound

Crescent roll dough makes a great quick crust for miniature tarts made in a muffin pan, and each triangle is perfectly portioned for a single cup (if you don’t mind irregular edges; if you do, press all the seams together as above and cut neat squares from the sheet). You can fill the flaky crusts with whatever you like, from raspberry jam to feta and caramelized onions—but these call to mind mini quiches with their bacon, egg, and cheese middles. Get our Bacon Quiche Tarts recipe.

Pepperoni Cheese Bombs

Sizzling Eats

Of course, you can also simply stuff each triangle for individual appetizers, whether you want to roll each one up in the shape of mini calzones, or tuck them into muffin tins with the ends folded over top for petite parcels. Chicken Bacon Ranch Crescents, Sloppy Joe Stuffed Crescent Rolls, and Garlic Butter Cheesy Crescent Rolls are all great choices, but in the interest of eating as much pizza as possible, try tomato sauce, mozzarella, and pepperoni wrapped in flaky dough with a sprinkle of Italian herbs over top. Get the recipe.

Crescent Bacon Breakfast Ring

Jo Cooks

If you can arrange triangles in the shape of a sun, you can pull this crescent roll ring off with ease. You can also definitely make this into dessert (à la the Peanut Butter Crescent Roll video at the bottom of this page, which uses a slightly different technique), or dinner (think Taco Crescent Ring), but if you need to impress some brunch guests, this pastry wreath full of scrambled eggs, bacon, and plenty of cheese will do the trick. Get the recipe.

Chicken Pot Pie Casserole

Cincy Shopper

Get two tubes of crescent dough if you need a top and bottom crust for a casserole, like this easy chicken pot pie for a crowd. It uses cream of chicken soup for a fast filling too, but our Creamed Chicken recipe isn’t that much more involved if you want to make at least some part of dinner from scratch. Get the recipe.

Turkey, Cranberry, and Brie Crescent Braid

Spicy Southern Kitchen

For something a little fancier, braid your crescent roll sheet around your chosen filling—here’s a good visual reference for the easy mechanics of making the braid if you need more guidance. Turkey, cranberry, and brie are a great fall filling option, but it can be virtually anything you like, including sweet ingredients like cream cheese, fruit, or chocolate. Get the recipe.

Pretzel Pigs in a Blanket

Plain Chicken

Regular crescent roll pigs in blankets are sure to please your tailgating crew—but if you briefly dunk the dough-wrapped sausages or hot dogs in boiling water with baking soda before you pop them in the oven, they’ll bake up dark brown and taste more like soft pretzels. Get the recipe.

Crescent Roll Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls

The Gunny Sack

Shifting to the sweet end of the spectrum, easy cinnamon rolls are a classic use for crescent roll dough (but you can use the same fill-roll-and-slice technique to make savory snacks, too, like Baked Ham and Cheese Crescent Rollups). This autumnal twist includes pumpkin puree and pumpkin spices in addition to the classic cinnamon and brown sugar, and a caramel glaze in addition to the usual vanilla drizzle. (For a larger breakfast spread, keep in mind that crescent roll dough also makes great Danish!) Get the recipe.

Crescent Roll Cronuts

Deliciously Yum

While baked crescent roll dough is plenty flaky and crisp, if you fry it—as is true of so many things—it’s even better. These easy glazed cronuts are dangerously simple to make at home, and would be equally great rolled in cinnamon and sugar, or dipped in chocolate. And you can just call them doughnuts if “cronuts” makes you twitchy. Get the recipe.

Maple Caramel Bacon Crack

The Domestic Rebel

Give Saltine-based Christmas crack a bit of competition with this sweet-salty treat that lacquers crisp bacon to flaky dough with an easy maple caramel. Is it dessert? An appetizer? Maybe even breakfast? You’re just four ingredients away from deciding for yourself. Get the recipe.

Mini Crescent Roll Pumpkin Pies

Taste and Tell

Just as crescent roll dough makes great mini savory tart shells, it’s perfect for tiny pies, like these two-bite miniature pumpkin pies. Make easy homemade whipped cream while they’re baking and top them off at the table. Get the recipe.

Nutella and Banana Stuffed Crescent Rolls

The Food Charlatan

This three ingredient dessert (well, five when you count the cinnamon and sugar for the coating) may just be the perfect bite, and it’s a great way to use your homemade Nutella—or a perfect excuse to make a batch in the first place. Get the recipe.

Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars

Onion Rings and Things

More cinnamon and sugar on crisp crescent roll dough, but this time it’s sandwiching a creamy cheesecake filling. Try an apple pie variation to showcase fall fruit if you’ve got it on hand. Any way you slice it, this is delicious—and incredibly easy to make. Get the recipe.

Related Video: How to Make a Peanut Butter Crescent Ring

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