Cucumber-Cream Cheese Pinwheels

I was notified late Friday night that we (I) needed to make an appetizer for James' company party on Saturday afternoon. These were easy to throw together at the semi-last minute, and fun to make. They were a big hit, and I am proud to say there were no leftovers.

Ingredients:

16-oz cream cheese (at room temperature)
1 lb thin-sliced deli turkey
1 package tortillas
1 cucumber (or 2 cups diced)

Plan ahead to leave cream cheese out of refrigerator for an hour or two before you start. Use fresh, soft tortillas that will not break when you roll them up.

Spread a thin layer of cream cheese on one tortilla, covering with at least an 1/8-inch layer right up to the edges. Sprinkle diced cucumber over the tortilla, covering less than 50 percent of the cream cheese.

Add a thin layer of turkey, ensuring to leave areas of cream cheese peeking through so the ingredients will stick together when you roll up the tortilla.

Starting at one edge, roll the tortilla and all filling very tightly until entire tortilla is rolled up. Repeat these directions until you have used all of the cream cheese and/or tortillas. I used two different flavors/colors of tortilla to make it look pretty, so I only used half of each package.

Wrap 2 to 3 tortilla rolls together in aluminum foil, making sure they stay tightly rolled. Refrigerate for at least one hour before slicing. After an hour, use a very sharp non-serrated knife to slice each roll into 1/2-inch slices. Do not saw at the tortilla with your knife or it will come unrolled.

Each tortilla makes about 8 pinwheels. The inch to two inches at the end of each tortilla are not nice enough looking to serve at a party, so I set these parts aside for pre-party snacks.

References:

http://www.rachaelraymag.com/recipes/rachael-ray-magazine-recipe-search/fast-recipes/turkey-wrap-with-cucumber-cream-cheese

Bacon Cream Cheese Puffs

This is a recipe I have been working on for a while. It is a party favorite whenever I make it, and I'm pretty sure it has become one of my boyfriend's favorite foods. I have tried this recipe with biscuit dough and crescent roll sheets, but biscuit dough seems to taste best. The cream cheese filling also makes a great cheese spread to eat with crackers.

Ingredients

2 packages buttermilk biscuits (8 per can)
1/2 to 1 package bacon
8 oz cream cheese
½ cup diced green onions
½ t black pepper
1 t garlic powder
1 egg white
1 T water

Cook the bacon first. I find it fastest to cook the bacon in the oven because you can cook large amounts at once.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie tray with aluminum foil and arrange the bacon side-by-side to fill the pan. I can usually fit about 2/3 of a package of bacon on one cookie tray, and if I’m feeling lazy or in a hurry that’s all I use for this recipe. More bacon is always better though.

Bake for 10 minutes, flip the bacon with tongs, then replace and bake for 5-10 minutes more until bacon is crispy. Allow to cool before dicing into small pieces (like bacon bits).

Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees. Combine cream cheese, bacon, green onions, garlic and pepper in a bowl and mix well with a spoon or spatula. For best results, chill in the refrigerator until firm before filling the biscuits. I usually make the cream cheese filling the night before a party to save time.

It's really hard not to just give up and eat this with a spoon.

To make the egg wash, combine one egg white and one tablespoon water in a bowl and beat with a fork until foamy. Line a baking tray with with parchment paper, or aluminum foil coated with non-stick spray. Cut each biscuit in half so you have 16 pieces, and roll each piece into a ball. Smash a ball of dough in your hand so you have a disc, and place about half a tablespoon of filling in the center.

Brush a generous layer of egg wash around the edges, and press the edges together so you have a half-moon shaped pie. It is okay if the egg wash spills over onto the cream cheese. Don't skimp on the egg wash or the edges won't seal and you will have an oozy mess (see picture below). Arrange on baking tray and bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes until brown on top.

Not enough egg wash - they all exploded! Still tasted great though.

Remove to a cooling rack and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving, as the cream cheese filling is like molten lava when it first comes out of the oven.

Veggie Pizza

This is great finger food for a party!

Ingredients


1 package crescent roll dough
8 oz cream cheese
½ cup sour cream
1 cup diced red, green, and yellow peppers
1 cup broccoli florets
1 carrot, grated
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated

Beautiful colors in this recipe!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and take cream cheese out of refrigerator to come to room temperature. Spray or oil a 13x9 pan. Press crescent roll dough into pan, stretching to meet the edges and smoothing out crescent roll seams so there are no gaps. I like to push the dough up the sides of the pan slightly so there is a crust on the pizza. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

When cream cheese is room temperature, combine cream cheese and sour cream in a mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth. Use a spatula to spread a thick layer of this mixture on the dough. If you have some left over, you can use it to make chip or cracker dip.


Spread peppers, carrots, and broccoli over the pizza until most of the sauce is covered. Lightly press down on the vegetables to help them stick to the sauce so the toppings don’t all fall off when people try to eat it. 

Sprinkle a light layer of grated cheddar cheese on top. Refrigerate for at least a half hour before serving. Slice into four rows each way to make 16 small pieces.