Gougere Recipe (Savory Cream Puff Appetizers)

Gougères are savory choux pastry (pâte à choux salé in French) appetizers made with cheese. For this version, I made a light pastry dough with Parmesan and Triple Cream cheeses, baked them to form hollow puffed balls and filled them with pistachio pesto flavored cream cheese, mushrooms and red bell peppers.

We hosted a dinner party this evening and these cute little bites were perfect finger foods. Next time you host a cocktail party or buffet, you might want to prepare savory cream puffs. They can be prepared in advance and assembled at the last minute. Enjoy!

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Palmier

If you're planning on having a romantic meal on Valentine's Day, check out these adorable heart-shaped puff pastry appetizers. They're called palmiers. I've made a different version before with a traditional basil pesto, but today I decided to make them with sun-dried tomato pesto. Not only does it taste great, but the red color makes these little treats perfect for Valentine's Day.

Even though palmiers look really fancy, they are ultra simple to make. If you're in a real hurry, you can even use store-bought pesto. Don't worry, I won't tell.

2009: A Year in Review

Pesto Palmiers (Basil Pesto Elephant Ears)

Pesto palmiers are quick and easy appetizers for an elegant party. I made these pesto palmiers bite-sized so that they would work well at a dinner party we're hosting tonight. I have to thank Rianne from Art of Dessert for her post that reminded me of how to make them. As she said, palmiers look incredibly fancy, but in reality are quite easy to make. On top of that, the puff pastry "logs" of palmiers can be frozen for later use. If you're storing frozen pesto cubes as I've suggested in the past, this is a recipe that you can whip up whenever you're in a pinch, and no one will be the wiser!

Stuffed Mushrooms

The possibilities for stuffed mushrooms are almost limitless. They are perfect as passed hors d'oeuvres and they're incredibly versatile and easy to make when you're pressed for time. We have a dinner party tonight, and I wanted to use the leftover stuffing from Thanksgiving. "Stuffing-stuffed Mushrooms" has a nice ring to it, no?

I boosted the flavor of the stuffing with parmesan cheese, sliced almonds and crème fraîche. To smooth out the texture, I incorporated some crème fraîche to the stuffing and brushed the mushrooms with tomato sauce and tomato paste as well. Once each button mushroom is filled with stuffing, sprinkle on some more parmesan, bake, and they're ready to serve!