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!

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms in Phyllo Cups

The basics of these appetizers are grilled Portobello mushrooms mixed with caramelized shallots. I added the mixture to layers of phyllo dough squares molded in a muffin pan and sealed with a piece of Reblochon cheese. I then topped the appetizers with a mound of herbed cream cheese and a little  sprinkle of Gruyère cheese. A quick turn in the oven and the phyllo cups came out crisp, golden and absolutely gorgeous.

Even though we have all sorts of gadgets in our kitchen, I'm not a fan of "uni-taskers" because they generally become a waste of space. I spent Labor Day de-cluttering our cupboards, pantry and garage, removing any unnecessary items. I found many different-sized muffin pans, but contrary to what you might think, they are excellent "multi-taskers". For this recipe, I used a 12-cup tinplate. The cavities of the pan form cups, which are ideal for individual servings. I’ve also used muffin pans to make parmesan cups, popovers and many other appetizers, as well as muffins, of course!

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!