Desert Ideas For Any Friendsgiving Gathering
Who says you only can celebrate Thanksgiving once a year? Instead of just visiting your family, why not indulge a week (or heck even a day) before the big day with Friendsgiving. As the name suggests, Friendsgiving is a mashup of ‘friends’ and ‘Thanksgiving’ with the idea to spend the evening enjoying classic holiday dishes with your best buds. In many ways, it’s a lot more low-key and fun than the more traditional family dinners. After all, you probably like everyone at Friendsgiving!
With the coronavirus, Friendsgiving for many has gone virtual. While you might not roast a whole turkey and prepare a bunch of side dishes, there is one thing you should forget: dessert. These sweet treats will make you appreciate social distancing since you won’t have to share your delicious dessert with anyone. Plus, you don’t have to save these options for Friendsgiving. You can grab or make these sweets whenever you want!
Friendsgiving or Thanksgiving Desert Ideas - Classic Pumpkin Pie
The second a single leaf changes color, you know you’ll start seeing pumpkin everything in the stores. Even if you’re not a pumpkin-spiced latte kind of person, you can’t go wrong with a delicious slice of pumpkin pie. There are dozens of varieties out there ranging so there’s a recipe out there for everyone even if you’re vegan or on a keto diet.
While there are dozens of ways to make pumpkin pie, it does have one consistent ingredient and that’s pumpkin. Many recipes will call for the standard canned pumpkin, you can also make your own pumpkin puree from scratch. Be forewarned, you cannot use the guts from your Jack-o-lantern to make pumpkin pie as you won’t get the right texture or flavor. Instead, look for sugar pumpkins as these have a higher sugar content and are less fibrous.
Inspired by New York City’s Momofuku Milk Bar dessert of the same name, this pie deserves its name. It’s so delicious you won’t be able to have just one bite. While this isn’t a particularly easy dessert to make, it’s definitely worth the time and effort. With that said, be prepared to spend a lot of money on this pie. You'll need to get plenty of butter, heavy cream, sugar, eggs, milk powder, and corn powder. While you might have some of these things lying around, you might need to get extra as the recipe requires large quantities of these ingredients.
So what exactly makes up the crack pie? Well the crust is actually an oatmeal cookie and the filling is a wonderfully thick custard. It’s buttery, sweet, and just a wonderfully rich dessert. Despite this, it’s all too easy to eat the whole pie in one sitting. If you live in NYC and don’t want to make the dessert yourself, you can stop by Milk Bar and pick up a slice for yourself.
Much like pumpkins, apples are another fall favorite. Autumn is the time for apple cider and apple cider donuts. Many families enjoy the fall bounty by going to small farms and going apple-picking. Apples are great for a snack throughout the day, but they’re also a wonderful addition to desserts.
Blondies are already a tasty dessert. If you’re not familiar with them, they are essentially brownies but without the cocoa. Since the flavor is more neutral, you can easily add other ingredients to make it pop. Something like apples and cinnamon complement blondies perfectly because you get that pop out heat from the cinnamon and the sweet and sour from a good apple.
Friendsgiving Desert Classics - Apple Cinnamon Blondies
Okay, so technically strawberries are a summer fruit. However, thanks to the global food market, you can get strawberries whenever you want. So why not enjoy them during the fall? Plus, the red of the strawberries actually match the changing color of the leaves so it’s kind of a fall-like...right?
While the word salad might be in the dessert name, this is definitely not your average salad. There’s not a green in sight! So why is this called a salad? It might be something to do with the textural differences between the various layers. You have the crunchy and salty pretzels, the creamy sweetened cheese, and then the jiggly gelatin with chunks of fresh strawberry. It’s got everything you could want and, unlike a lot of other desserts, it’s relatively low in calories.
Black Forrest Cheesecake Cookies
Family Friends Gathering Holiday Spirit
Sometimes, you can’t choose between desserts. So why not combine them? If you love cheesecake and cookies then this is the dessert for you. This is a decidedly decadent treat so it’s definitely something to bust out on special occasions. It’s also festive thanks to the bright red cherries and black and white cookie base.
You will obviously need cream cheese. It can’t be called cheesecake without it! On top of that you’ll also need some Oreos for the cookie crumb coating. Of course, if you don’t want to go through all that work, you can just opt for just the Oreos.
Basic bread pudding is a humble but delicious dessert. It’s a great way to repurpose old bread and only requires a few things from your fridge you already have such as milk or cream, eggs, sugar, and butter. Due to the simplicity of the original recipe, bread pudding is a great base to spin off some variations.
Enter, pumpkin spice bread pudding. If you don’t want to go through the effort of making a pumpkin pie, this is a close second. You’ll also use almost the same ingredients, but it will just take a lot less effort to put everything together. All you’ll have to do is whisk together all the ingredients (don’t forget the pumpkin puree) and then pour them into an oven safe bowl! Oh, if you’re wondering what’s in the actual ‘spike’ portion of the pumpkin spice, it tends to be varying amounts of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
Friendsgiving Traditional Holiday Desert Ideas
Tarts and pies might technically be two different things, but they are closely related. They are both baked desserts, wrapped in crust, and with a sweet filling. So what’s the difference:
Dish - pie dishes are generally sloped while tart dishes have shallow sides
Crust - pie crusts aim for a crisp and flaky crust while tart crusts are firm and crumbly. Pies also traditionally have top and bottom crusts (although they can have just a bottom or just a top) while tarts only have bottom crusts.
Serving - pies are served directly from the dish they were baked while tarts are baked in a pan with a removable bottom so it can be unmolded during serving
Okay, now with the formalities out of the way, this lemon blackberry tart might feel more summer-y than fall, but it’s still a delicious and ‘tart’ option that will surely be hit. The refreshing acidity of the lemon makes it all too easy to have more than one slice and the blackberries add a nice texture to the smooth custard and crumbly crust.
You can’t really have Thanksgiving or even Friendsgiving without Pecan Pie. Peak pecan harvest season is between October and December making this a very appropriate fall dessert. The added butterscotch really kicks the dessert up a notch with its slightly salty flavor that mellows out the overall sweetness.
What makes a good pecan pie is the pecan to filling ratio. In general, you want to avoid too much filling as it can drown out the nutty and buttery flavor of the pecans. If you want to up the pecan-ness of the pie, chop some up finely and add it to the filling in addition to the whole ones you put on top of the pie. That way, you get an even distribution of pecan flavor.
New Holiday Friendsgiving Tradition
Apples and pumpkins might get the bulk of the attention during fall, but you shouldn’t forget about two other fall staples: pears and cranberries. While cranberries are a bit too tart on their own, combined with the sweet almond cream and pears and you’ve got a winning combination.
You can’t opt for fresh pears or canned pears, though you’ll get more consistency in the flavor and sweetness in the canned option. As for the tart crust, you can also buy it pre-made or you can make your own. While making your own might be intimidating and time consuming, if it’s a treat for yourself, it’s definitely worth the effort.
Vegan Gluten-Free Cinnamon Rolls
With more people leading gluten-free and vegan diets, it’s easier to find substitute ingredients for eggs, milk, and gluten-filled flour. That’s great news for people who have celiacs or other intolerances! Cinnamon rolls are already difficult to get just right with standard ingredients, which means it's doubly hard to make vegan and gluten-free.
Luckily, this recipe gets you pretty close to the real thing without sacrificing texture or flavor. If you’re already vegan and gluten-free it shouldn’t cost you too much as you should already have the ingredients on hand. One thing to be careful of before making this is to ensure you’re using almond flour, not almond meal as that will make your rolls crumbly.
Friendsgiving or Thanksgiving Is The Perfect Event To Enjoy A Family Meal
Just because you’re social distancing for Friendsgiving or Thanksgiving doesn’t mean you can’t treat yourself to some delicious food. These delicious dessert options will not only sate your sweet tooth, they will also get you in that holiday spirit. Plus, you can totally brag to your friends and family when they see you eating a homemade dessert.
Of course, if you really like your friends and family, you can also choose to share the recipes. Or you can go a step further and make them miniature versions of the pies and tarts and send it to them. Just make sure you look up the rules when it comes to shipping perishable foods!
Jessica Lauren is Founder, contributing Author and Owner of Citrus Sleep. Citrus Sleep is an online publication that highlights brands, sleep products, women’s fashion, subscription services and ideas creating positive social change and promoting a healthy lifestyle. After spending nearly a decade working in PR and marketing for several brands and startups, Jessica knows what truly drives conversions, sold-out launches and guest posts.
Follow Jessica at @jessicalaurencs | Jessica Lauren
