Evening of Excellence

This past Tuesday was our Evening of Excellence for our Young Women’s group – our theme was an awards show. We had an MC who announced the program and as the leaders we were the presenters. Each girl got an award (a gold spray painted Kool-Aid Kool Burst) and Swag bag (with Shower Gel, Hand soap, and nail polish) as we read a short Bio about each of them. At the end we had desserts – finger food sized desserts – And my love of cooking earned me the honor of preparing them, and I am sharing them with you. These were fun and super simple and looked totally fitting for the occasion. These would be great for a Christmas Eve Party, or a New Years Eve party. I apologize I did not take pictures. If I find someone who did I will post them later.

Our menu:

Cinnamon Almonds, Apple pie bites, Peanut butter bars, Savory Parmesan bites, Cream Cheese tarts.

Savory Parmesan Bites

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 (8-ounce) cans refrigerated crescent dinner rolls

Stir together softened cream cheese, 3/4 cup cheese, bell pepper, and parsley. Unroll crescent rolls, and separate each can into 4 rectangles, pressing perforations to seal. Spread 3 tablespoons cream cheese mixture on each rectangle. Roll up, starting at 1 short side, jelly-roll fashion. Cut each roll into 4 equal pieces, using a serrated knife. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Sprinkle bites with remaining ¼ cup cheese.

Bake at 350° for 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 32 pieces

Apple Pie Bites

1 Pkg. Refrigerated Biscuits (I like the flakey kind)

1 Granny Smith Apple, peeled and finely chopped

2 Tbsp sugar                                                     1 tsp cinnamon

½  tsp nutmeg                                                  4 ½ Tbsp butter melted

Preheat oven to 375°

Line your muffin tin with paper or foil liners and spray them with non stick spray. Flatten out each biscuit with a rolling pin into a 3” circle brush with melted butter avoiding the edges.  Mix apples with spices and place a small spoonful on to each biscuit. Bring the sides of the biscuit up to enclose the filling, pinch and twist to seal the top (or just gather and as they bake they open to look flower like). Place in liners brush the tops with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and bake for 13 minutes or until golden brown.

Cream Cheese Bites

1 Pkg. Fillo Dough shells (found in the freezer section)

½  pkg. Cream Cheese

2 Tbsp Butter

2-3 C Powdered Sugar

Mix, Cream Cheese, Butter and Sugar until frosting like consistency. Thaw shells, put filling into a gallon bag, and make a small cut in the corner of the bag, pipe filling into the shells. Refrigerate. Top with a berry or your choice.

Peanut Butter Cups

1 ½ C Peanut butter

1 C Butter / margarine

1 pkg Graham Crackers

1 lb. Powdered sugar

1 (1 lb Size) Hershey’s Bar

Cream butter and peanut butter; blend graham crackers to fine crumbs. Mix with powdered sugar. Mix crumb mixture with peanut butter mixture. Press into a 9 x 13 pan. Melt Chocolate in microwave 1 minute at a time stirring after each minute till melted, pour over peanut butter and let sit to cool. Cut into cubes to serve.

Cinnamon Almonds

2 C Raw Almonds

1 C Sugar

1 Tbsp Vanilla extract

1 Tbsp Cinnamon extract (not oil)

2 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon

¼ C Water

In a Cast Iron skillet, place Almonds, sugar, cinnamon, extracts and water. Stir over a medium heat until moisture has evaporated and nuts look dry. Remove from heat and let cool.

These can be made with other nuts.

Enjoy.