I was inspired to make these exquisite cream puff “crack buns” by the Great British Baking Show, which is presently my favorite television program. Speaking of favorites, one of my all-time favorite desserts is Boston cream pie, and this was essentially a better, individually portioned version of that. These would be delicious filled with a variety of things, but vanilla bean pastry cream is a close second (see footnote).
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 3 hrs 5 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 35 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 stalk celery, coarsely chopped
- 1 medium carrot, coarsely chopped
- 1 (12 pound) whole turkey, neck and giblets reserved
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
- ½ bunch fresh sage, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Place onion, celery, and carrot in a large, shallow roasting pan.
- Place turkey, breast-side up, on top of vegetables in the roasting pan. Pat outside and inside of turkey dry with paper towels.
- Combine salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper in a small bowl. Season inside of turkey with about 1/3 of the salt mixture. Fold wing tips under bird.
- Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until edges turn golden, about 2 minutes. Add rosemary and sage; cook and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Place rosemary and sage inside cavity of turkey; reserve melted butter. Tie turkey legs together with twine.
- Brush melted butter over turkey. Season with the remaining salt mixture.
- Bake turkey, uncovered, in the preheated oven until no longer pink at the bone and juices run clear, about 3 hours. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone should read 180 degrees F (82 degrees C).
- Remove turkey from the oven and allow to rest in a warm area for 10 to 15 minutes before slicing.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 355 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 2 g |
| Cholesterol | 136 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Protein | 46 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 604 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 17 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is my first Turkey ever. Everything turned out great. Juicy And delicious. I roasted veggies underneath on a roasting pan. Then, used them to stuff the Turkey.
Thank You Chef John! Helped me on Christmas and Thanksgiving, this made me a star amongst friends and family
so it good
I have been using the recipe for ~5 years. I cook for my family, but don’t consider myself to be Uber skilled. Time after time, this recipe has won me accolades at Thanksgiving! I almost panicked when it was 4th down on my google search- need to save this somewhere else. It is so simple, easy, and you legitimately can’t go wrong if you follow the instructions! Thank you for sharing!
Husband said it was the best Turkey he ever had
Tasted like heaven
It was perfect
I used this recipe to cook my 19 pound Christmas turkey and it turned out perfectly! I definitely plan to use this again.
Thank you,turned out awesome
good
It was alright made some changes but overall it was good.
I followed the recipe exactly (aside from using table salt and a poultry seasoning instead of pepper and cayenne) and it turned into a masterpiece. My friends loved it and were impressed with my first bird haha so moist. Tip: leave the oven closed the full 3 or so hours. I had an 11 pound bird and did just over 3 hours.
I made this for the 1st time. this was the most moist turkey I’ve ever eaten. It was falling off the bone when trying to carve. The only thing I changed was I replaced 2 cups of water with chicken broth. Everyone loved it.
My this year’s Thanksgiving Turkey! Easy and so good !!!Outstanding recipe.
I used this for our Christmas turkey. I’d never cooked a turkey before. It turned out perfectly and the size was perfect for a small family of 3…and we still had leftovers.
I used this recipe for my first ever last year, and we were blown away. It turned out phenomenal and the recipe is so easy. Last time I made it, I accidentally kept the rosemary in the butter and applied the leaves to the outside, and guess what, best mistake I ever made, it was so delicious. I’m doing it every time now :).
Turned out great. Will use this one again!
This was awesome! My Turkey was just over 13 lbs and took around 3.5 hours. I used dried rosemary and thyme and added Northwoods seasoning from Penzey’s into the butter with the rosemary and thyme. I cut up several stalks of celery, several carrots, 3 small onions, and a green apple to rest in the pan because those are all delicious when cooked in the juices along with the Turkey. I also used convection, so I followed the standard guideline of reducing temperature by 25 degrees to 300. My whole family declared it spectacular, including the 6 and 9 year olds.
Followed the recipe, it turned out beautifully.
Delicious, savory, make sure to put some water in the pan under the turkey, why? So your turkey doesn’t come out dry. And bend the turkey wings under the turkey so they don’t cook crusty, it will be hard to bend so get a strong friend to help you.
I loved this recipe. It was my first turkey that I had to prepare for a big family Christmas dinner and I found the video very calming ;-). I bought a nice organic bird. I substituted fresh herbs for dry. It came out amazingly well and so delicious. Thank you. As the Chef says – it was magazine perfect!