Party Appetizers

As promised, the recipes for the appetizers from our Tacky Sweater Christmas Party.

Ham and Cheese Rolls

1 pkg Puff Pastry (sheets)

Sliced Deli Ham

Colby Jack Cheese (sliced is best)

Let puff pastry thaw on counter until its easy to work with.  20-30 Minutes.

Preheat oven to 400.

Unfold puff pastry.  Place 2 or 3 layers of sliced ham on the puff pastry, leaving one inch uncovered.  Place one layer of cheese on top of ham.  Starting from the shorter width side, roll puff pastry toward uncovered end.  

If preparing ahead of time, wrap entire rolled log in plastic wrap and aluminum foil and put in freezer.  When ready to cook, let thaw until able to slice.

Slice log in about 1/2 inch pieces and place on greased or non-stick baking sheet.  Bake for 15-20 minutes--until pastry is golden brown.

Each log makes about 12 pieces.  Notice I used shredded cheese because we had a ton of it.  This worked, and was easy to prepare but didn't work as well when it was time to transfer to the baking sheet.  The cheese would fall out.  

These were a big hit and we ran out before all the guests arrived.  I had an extra puff pastry sheet but no ham.  My soon-to-be-sister-in-law Steph suggested I use the Pepperoni Slices that she saw in my fridge.  I layered the pepperoni with mozzarella cheese.  Delicious!

Peppermint Bark

Inspired by FoodieBride

8oz Semi-Sweet Baking Chocolate Squares

8oz White Baking Chocolate Squares

Peppermint Candy (I used candy canes)

Melt chocolate in separate double boilers.  I made my own by placing a glass bowl on top of a pot of water, where the water was just touching the bottom of the bowl.  

While chocolate is melting, line a 9x13 baking pan with wax paper and crush peppermint.

When chocolate is melted, drop alternating spoonfuls of chocolate/white chocolate into baking pan (where it looks like a checkerboard).  Using spatula, swirl chocolate just enough so that it covers the pan.  Sprinkle peppermint on top.  Cover and store in refrigerator until hard.  Break into pieces.

Some people layer the chocolate and white chocolate instead of swirling.  Several people on a local message board commented that their two chocolate layers never "stuck" to each other due to the humidity so I decide to use FoodieBride's swirl approach.  Success -- and it looks pretty too!!

Pepper Jelly Cups

Found on RecipeZaar

A couple of years ago, some of our college friends went to my best friend Margaret's lake house in Louisiana.  Their property has two cute, modest houses on it and a huge sloped yard down to the lake (perfect for slip-n-slide).  Margaret's parents stayed in one house, all the kids in the other.  Her mom made sure we had snacks, one of which was a block of cream cheese with Tabasco Pepper Jelly (red) on top.  I fell in love with this snack and often take it to parties.  

I bought some Phyllo Dough on a whim before the party and then searched the web for something to make using it.  When I came across this recipe, I thought it was perfect for the party since I could buy the green and red jelly.

8 sheets frozen phyllo pastry sheets, thawed

3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 (250 g) package cream cheese

1 jar hot pepper jelly (I use Tabasco Brand and got a jar of red and a jar of green for Christmas)

Take 2 sheets of pastry and cover the rest with a damp cloth to keep from drying out.

Brush a thin layer of butter on one sheet and stack the other sheet on top. Brush one half of top sheet with butter.  Fold the stacked sheet in half.  Brush top with butter.

Cut that into 12 equal squares. A pizza cutter works great for this; I used scissors.

Press each square into a greased mini muffin tin.*

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.

Repeat with remaining sheets, remembering to keep unused sheets covered.

Shells may be frozen at this point or filled and ready to serve.

Place 1/2- 1 teaspoon of cream cheese in the center of each tart. Top with 1/2 to 1 tsp of jelly.

*I used my great-grandmother Nana's little tart cups to make my shells.   Grammy gave me these cups at one of my wedding showers where the guests gave me recipes. The note read "Sarah, These little tins belonged to your Nana.  Each one has a "W" on the bottom - you know how Nana identified all her stuff! I wanted to share these with you.  You will need them with one of my recipes!  Love you, Grammy."  Every kitchen item Nana owned had a W on it.  Actually... it was everything she owned, even Papaw's socks!  Grammy and Nana made many batches of little tarts with these cups (lemon and strawberry for sure) and I am thrilled to finally get to use them. 

Devilled Eggs

I do not have a real "recipe" for devilled eggs.  I just add stuff until it looks good and tastes good.

Eggs

Mayonnaise

Mustard

Pickle Juice

Paprika

Boil eggs -- Place eggs in pot and just cover with water.  Bring water and eggs to a boil.  Turn off heat, cover pot and let stand for 18 minutes.

Peel eggs and slice in half, putting yokes in a bowl, whites on a plate.  

Mix yokes with a couple of spoonfuls of mayo and a squirt of mustard.  Add a spoon of pickle juice.  I mix in my mini food processor to get it really smooth.  Use just enough mayo to get the yoke mixture smooth.  If it tastes a little bland, add some extra pickle juice.  

Place yoke mixture in a zip lock bag.  Cut tip off bag and squeeze into egg white cups.  (I got this little tip from Martha Stewart.)  This makes it very easy to fill the eggs without having to make much of a mess, and easier to prepare in advance, store in fridge and fill right before serving.

Sprinkle with paprika.