entertaining

Cheese Puff Pastry Breadsticks

November 19, 2012 by Wendy Cohen 1 Comment

Here’s another simple recipe to use with your puff pastry that you find in the freezer section of the grocery store. Make sure your puff pastry has been out of the freezer for at least an hour or in the refrigerator. Sprinkle the cheese or your choice onto your work surface…romano, parmesan, asiago. Place the puff pastry sheet onto the cheese and press so that the cheese pushes into the puff pastry dough. Then sprinkle the top side of the dough with cheese and Italian seasoning.

Next, you cut your puff pastry into strips. I cut them into 1″ strips. And, yes, I used a ruler and a pizza cutter. Made sense to me!

I then took the puff pastry strips and put them onto a skewer in a zig fashion so that the dough is a bit separated and is spread out over the top third of the skewer. Remember, the puff pastry “puffs” so you can leave some space in between. Of course, I forgot to take a photo of what this looked like on the skewers. Then you place the skewers onto a baking sheet and place in the oven for 10 to 16 minutes until they are nice and crispy and light brown.

I decided to display the breadsticks in a glass so that they looked unique and different. They tasted great. One thing I would do different would be to use a different type skewer or spray the skewer with cooking spray. The breadsticks were sometimes hard to slide off. Otherwise, they turned out great and were fun to eat.

Beware…they do make a mess when you eat them…it is just the flaky puff pastry!

p.s. I adapted this recipe from it’s original form.

Filed Under: appetizers, entertaining Tagged With: appetizer, breadstick, Cheese, cheese breadstick, entertaining, puff pastry, puff pastry breadstick

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Quick & Easy Pasta Appetizers

November 18, 2012 by Wendy Cohen 3 Comments

These have got to be the simplest appetizers on the face of the earth and are will be well liked by your guests. The great thing is there are also a number of options for this appetizer so that you can add your own touch.

Start out with cooking either mini ravioli or tortellini al dente. Then, draining it and allowing it to cool. Place in a ziplock bag and pour in your favorite Italian dressing. Let sit overnight. For this time, I used cheese tortellini, marinated mozzarella balls and dry salami.

Grab your favorite toothpicks and stack the up…I alternated the order, but do whatever your heart desires. I placed the tortellini on the bottom so that they would stand on their own.

That’s it…pretty simple. You can also add to the mix cherry tomatoes, olives, different cheeses, etc. The possibilities are endless.

You can also use larger skewers and make the display more decorative by placing them into a pumpkin, watermelon or displaying nicely in a fun dish.

Happy Entertaining!!!

Filed Under: appetizers, entertaining Tagged With: appetizers, entertaining, italian, mozzarella, pasta, ravioli, salami, toothpicks, tortellini

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Avocado, Cream Cheese & Salsa Puff Pastries

November 17, 2012 by Wendy Cohen Leave a Comment

I can’t believe the holidays are around the corner…literally. Well, in some retailers, they completely bypassed Halloween and Thanksgiving and jumped right to Christmas. So frustrating for me as I would like to celebrate one holiday at a time. Nordstrom has decided to take a stand on this and I fully support it. You can see the article here. They have added signs to some of their stores that state:

“Well, we just like the idea of celebrating one holiday at a time. From our family to yours, Happy Thanksgiving.”

No easy transition to puff pastry, other than let’s eat! I would rate this recipe a medium in terms of difficulty and preparation time. You need to be patient and be willing to focus on the details. Probably not the best appetizer to make when you are crunched for time, had a long frustrating day at work or have little ones tugging at your pant legs.

Start with puff pastry that either you have made yourself (I haven’t quite gotten to that level of expertise yet) or that you buy at the grocery store in the frozen section. Let the puff pastry sit on the counter for about an hour before working with it or place it in the refrigerator overnight. Roll it out flat on a floured surface so that it is as thin as you can get it and still be able to work with it. Cut into squares that are 2″ x 2″. I used a pizza cutter and a ruler.

Prepare your cookie sheet with parchment paper and layout your 2″ squares. Start with adding a dollop of cream cheese.

Then add a chunk of avocado…

A spoonful of salsa…then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Take your other 2″ squares and place on top. You will want to secure the edges by pinching them and then using a fork to score all the way around.

After you have done that, beat with the eggwash of one egg.

Place in the oven at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown. Here they are right out of the oven…they taste delicious.

If I were to make this recipe again, I would have a little more filling then I did when I made these. Two sheets of puff pastry made 20 of these appetizers.

Happy entertaining, baking and eating! Have a great day!