Halloween Party 2017 recipe winners

This year like always I make winners and losers and the opinion on what was either will vary.  I made my Coconut Cream Pie recipe but this time I made them in mini muffin cups and using a cookie cutter cut out small circles from a Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust.  I made 24 and used 2 pie crusts.  I added the whipped cream from the can when I served them to the person.  I loved my coconut cream pie recipe already but these bite sized pies were perfect for a crowd.  The new recipe I tried was from The Chew's Clinton Kelly, #youonthechew.  It was his Spiced Apples with Cream.  I made a few changes in presentation, added 1 t. sugar to the cream and used crumbled mini vanilla wafers.  They were such a convenient party sweet.

For sweet treats I also made Priscilla's Aggression Cookies for the first time they were loaded with chocolate, Espresso Meringues but I need to work on something the were not quite perfect but meringues are a new favorite to practice on and Chocolate Espresso Pumpkin Seeds, now an old stand by.

The rugelash I made wasn't great since the dough was too warm and I forgot the egg wash.  It was a new recipe from the newspaper but little did I realize that if I would have followed the recipe in my cookbook that I made last year as a Christmas cookie it would have worked better.  Chilling the dough is important.  I did like the savory Pesto & Parmesan version along with the Pizza version I just need to try it again.

The Carrot Hummus recipe from a grocery add was way too lemony at 1/2 C. vs. my normal 1 T.  It was a basic hummus recipe with 1 cup of baby carrots.  I liked that it has the added boost from the carrots and the orange for Halloween but serving it with Triscuits wasn't good enough.  I'll use my regular hummus recipe, maybe omit a few of the spices like the dill and chili powder and lastly pita chips or vegetables are better.

I made Spinach Dip adding in the water chestnuts for extra crunch and vegetables, Ranch vegetable tortilla roll ups and Roast Beef roll ups with Horseradish cream cheese and roasted red bell peppers along with Ranch Pretzels and the Meatballs from my last post.  I put the cooked meatballs in the crock pot along with the cooked sauce to heat it the following day, this worked and made it easy but I liked it better in my cast iron braiser where I was able to broil cheese over the top.

The Chorizo Rolls were my favorite new recipe and the party winner so much so that they avoid being photographed. I assembled the sausage logs but I didn't wrap in the pastry till the day I baked them. Next time I'll complete them the day before to save me time on party day. I had a lot of leftover sauce so I don't know if people knew they went together, didn't like it or it was just too much sauce.

CHORIZO ROLLS

1 egg

1 lb. Sprouts ground Chorizo

¼ C. Italian brad crumbs

1 t. garlic powder

1 t. onion powder

1 t. dry mustard powder

2 T. cilantro, finely chopped

Creamy Cilantro Dipping Sauce:

1 bunch cilantro leaves, 2 T. reserved

1 T. fresh lime juice

2 cloves garlic

1 t. apple cider vinegar

1 t. honey

½ C. Greek yogurt or sour cream

Take one box of puff pastry out of the refrigerator, 40 minutes before you are ready to assemble. Pick cilantro leaves, chop and reserve 2 tablespoons. In a mini food processer blend sauce ingredients until smooth. Set aside. In a large bowl beat egg until frothy. Add chorizo, breadcrumbs, garlic powder, onion powder, parsley and mustard powder. Form into 6 logs, the lenght of one third of the puff pastry. Wrap in plastic wrap or if pastry is thawed, cut each piece into thirds along the fold lines. Place sausage mixture down center of puff pastry. Roll over and pinch seams closed. Place seam side down and cut each long into 6 pieces, 1-2" bites. Whisk an egg with 1 T. water. On a parchment lined cookie sheet place bites, brush with egg wash. Bake 425°F for 15-25 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Serve warm with dipping sauce on the same plate as the appetizer so people know the sauce goes with.

Make Ahead: Make the sauce, filling and stuff. Bake the following day.


Updated:  Cut the lime juice in half this time, too sour with 2 T.

For Drinks I made a "Drink Me" caramel apple shot a Sparkling Pumpkin Apple Punch and a 5 spice simple syrup for a bourbon drinker as a Whiskey Sour.

 

Can you believe after all this I had 5 recipes that I cancelled day before and 2 recipes that didn't get finished and out of the fridge. And I can't forget those who brought something, brownies (I missed these :(, or either version of the deviled eggs but I did try the Broken Fingers and snapped a photo of two of them.