How to make a Crescent Dough Cornucopia (and slay Thanksgiving)

 

Can we all take a moment to celebrate my crescent dough cornucopia? 🎉✨ 🎉✨🎉

Isn’t it a wonderful thing to create something, anything, that exceeds expectations? Part of the beauty of this crescent dough cornucopia is its simplicity. Yes, I am all about kitchen shortcuts and fun foodie surprises. And, I’m all about sharing what I’ve learned.

Make my crescent dough cornucopia for Thanksgiving, and when crazy family conversations turn to politics or other awkward topics, you can easily redirect with—but have you seen my cornucopia?

Gather:

Aluminum Foil
Two canisters of crescent dough
1 egg white

Note: I had no idea Pillsbury sold crescent dough in sheets, but this is a genius thing. Am I late to the party or has this been available forever? Regardless, I would like to give a shout-out to the oh-so-clever Doughboy (who is probably very busy getting ready for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade). Yay!

How-To:

Put on your creative hat and form a wad of foil into the horn shape of a cornucopia. The opening end is large and the tail-end narrows and curves up. Don’t overthink this. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

Cut the crescent dough into long strips, about 1/2 inch wide. (If you use crescent triangle dough instead of sheets, smooth the perforations before cutting.)

Starting at the small, curved end of your foil form, wrap dough strips around and around, pressing the ends of one strip into the next to join them. Don’t wrap your dough too tight because you want to be able to remove the foil later.

Braid or twist a strip to form the outer edge opening. This adds a different texture, almost like a basketweave.

Brush dough with egg white so your cornucopia will brown nicely.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.

Admire your work of art but resist removing the foil until your cornucopia has completely cooled.

Fill the outer part of your cornucopia with grapes, other fruit, cheese, nuts—whatever you prefer—and arrange the charcuterie to look as though a bounty of goodness is overflowing from your cornucopia.

I’m so happy with how it turned out. Yes, I’ll probably be talking about it for some time to come.

Cornucopia Confessions and Notes:

• The foil deep inside my cornucopia was impossible to remove. This didn’t really matter to me as my cornucopia was for looks and not to eat. I mean, what ravenous guest is going to tear apart a cornucopia during a party? (Well, Cousin Eddie might.) As I’m still perfecting my technique, the next time I will wrap the dough more loosely and not wad up the foil so tightly. And, I might spray a light coating of Pam over the foil before wrapping it—this might allow the foil to slip out? But like I said, it didn’t really matter to me.
• I only needed one roll of crescent dough. Obviously, if you make a larger foil form, you’ll need more dough.
• Before stuffing the mouth of your cornucopia, dry the grapes and other fruit with a paper towel. Damp fruit will make the dough soggy.
• You can store your emptied-out cornucopia for several days by placing it inside a plastic bread bag to keep it fresh. (Just like any type of bread). This might seem a strange thing to do, but with several days until Thanksgiving, you might have another reason to make a charcuterie. Or, you might just want to admire it. 😍

• You can even freeze it for up to two months but since New Year’s Day cornucopias aren’t popular, that seems an unnecessary waste of freezer space.

Interesting Facts:

Soooo—what do you think? Will you slay Thanksgiving this year by adding a crescent dough cornucopia to your charcuterie board? If so, I hope you’ll share your pictures on my Facebook page.

Also, if you need tips on making a charcuterie board, click HERE.

Grace Grits & Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.