Snickurtle Pie, French Toast Casserole and Love of the Midwest from the East Coast
After living nearly 30 years on the East Coast, my friend Jill (Keimig) Coene is still heavily influenced by her time living in the Midwest. We met in 1983 in Brookings, South Dakota when we were in the sixth grade, and although she moved away in the seventh grade and we haven’t seen each other since, our friendship still bonds over our love of the Midwest, baking and everything sweet.
Actual photos from Jill’s sixth-grade yearbook (I can’t believe THAT’S the way I spelled memories, and now I know where I used up my lifetime of exclamation marks):
Oh my gosh, why am I embarrassing myself like this? GOW stood for Good Old Walsh, our English teacher. We probably pushed her to retirement. And now Jill is an English Literature degreed teacher and I’m a writer. Ironic.
Jill recently shared a few of her family’s favorite recipes on episode 14 of Funeral Potatoes & Wool Mittens—French toast casserole, Thanksgiving leftovers galette, and snickurtle pie, a mash-up that taste like Snickers candy bars and no-bake turtle cheesecake.
Plus, Jill reveals her three most iconic and favorite spots to eat when she comes back to Brookings. And she lets us in on a little secret about macaroni salad on the East Coast.
I’ve already made the snickurtle pie and I can see why her stepsons request it instead of cake for their birthdays. I dare you to try to eat only a few bites of the creamy peanut butter cream cheese filling.
The pie only takes one bowl and about 15 or 20 minutes to make and then you let it set in the freezer for a few hours.
Like Snickers candy bars? You can make your own using this recipe.
Which recipe will you make first?
Sweet wishes,
Snickurtle Pie
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch graham cracker crust, or chocolate crumbs like Oreo
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened
- ⅓ cup creamy or crunchy peanut butter
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 8 oz Cool Whip or non dairy whipped topping
- pecans, chopped
- caramel ice cream topping
- chocolate syrup
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, with an electric hand mixer, beat cream cheese, peanut butter and sugar until smooth.
- Gently fold in Cool Whip. Use hand mixer on lowest setting to combine completely. Fold in pecan pieces.
- Poor ¾ of the caramel on the crust and spread evenly. (May need to warm up the caramel first.)
- Spread cream cheese filling on the caramel. Sprinkle pecans on top.
- Drizzle with caramel and chocolate syrup. Freeze at least three hours. Store in refrigerator.
Notes
All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
French Toast Casserole
Ingredients
French Toast
- 1 loaf French bread, cubed
- 6 eggs
- 1½ cups milk
- 1 cup half and half
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, optional
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Drizzle
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup walnuts, optional
- 1 tablespoon corn syrup
Instructions
French Toast
- Place bread cubes in 9×13 pan.
- Mix together eggs, milk, half and half, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and melted butter. Pour over the bread.
Drizzle
- Combine butter, brown sugar, walnuts, and corn syrup. Drizzle onto bread mixture. Refrigerate overnight .
- In the morning, bake at 400°F for about 40 minutes or until top is brown and bubbly. Serve with syrup.
Nutrition
All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
Thanksgiving Leftovers Galette
Ingredients
- 2 pie crusts
- Thanksgiving leftovers like turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, stuffing and cranberry sauce
Instructions
- Place 2 pie crusts on top of each other on a sheet of parchment paper. Roll them out. Move the crust on the parchment paper to a sheet pan.
- Layer leftovers on top of the crust, leaving about 2 inches of the crust empty.
- Fold the empty edges onto the leftovers, leaving most of the leftovers exposed.
- Bake at 400°F for 45-50 minutes. Let sit for 10 minutes before cutting into slices with a pizza cutter.
All text and images © Staci Mergenthal • Random Sweets
