Cream Cheese Mushroom Puffs

So here's what I did with the other half of those white sliced mushrooms I had bought a few days ago. I had another roll of the Pillsbury dough sheet in the fridge, so I figured why not a little party appetizers for a small group. You can also use puff pastry, if you can't find the flaky dough sheet. Some markets usually don't stock all products of a certain brand, which can be a headache sometimes.

I tried sealing them up like little dim sum dumplings, but the dough was being uncooperative with me that day. Some opened up during baking, some remained sealed. But I must admit, I liked how they turned out.

I may enter this into the Pillsbury bake-off competition along with the pesto pockets I'm working on. (Pesto Pockets) I've got a week to decide. This will roughly make 8-10 Depending how many squares you want to make. It's definitely flexible.


Cream Cheese Mushroom puffs.

2 oz cream cheese (around 4 Tbsp)
12 small white mushroom - diced (or which ever mushroom you prefer)
1/2 medium onion - diced
1 can Pillsbury Creations dough sheet or 1 sheet puff pastry
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1 tsp Butter or margarine


In a saute pan, heat oil and melt butter on a medium to low. Sweat onions when butter is nearly melted. You'd want them to have a nice soft and floppy texture to them. Then add the mushrooms. Season with a little salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 5min.

Place the mushrooms in a small bowl and add in the cream cheese. Mix to combine well. It'll make it into creamy mix.

Cut the dough sheet in 8 to 10 square pieces. Place a teaspoon of the mushroom mix at the center of each square. Bring the corners together and crimp the edges to seal.

Place the puffs on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-15min or until crust is golden brown.


Eat one, you'll have to have another.

Grilled Cheese and Creamy Tomato Soup

What's more nostalgic than a good ol' fashioned grilled cheese sandwich and some creamy tomato soup. A perfect after school snack. I had seen a recipe from 30-minute meals. Click here Made some minor changes and was please with how it turned out. I used evaporated milk instead of heavy cream. A bit lower in calories and gives it a nice rich taste. For the grilled cheese, my choice of bread was sourdough. I love sourdough.



Grilled Cheese Sammie

2 slices of bread (your choice)
butter or margarine
swiss cheese slices
cheddar cheese slices

Preheat skillet on a medium fire. Butter the top sides of the bread. When the skillet is hot enough place one slice of bread butter-side down. Place a slice of swiss and chedder and top it off with the other piece of bread, butter-side up. Grill for 5-10min. Then flip and grill for another 5-10min. Cheese will be nice and melted with a crispy bread crust.

Makes 1 sandwich

Note: don't smush the sandwich when grilling.




Creamy Tomato Soup

1 can (15oz) Chicken or veggie broth
1 can (15oz) fire roasted diced tomato or crushed tomato or tomato sauce
1 8oz can evaporated milk
1 Tbsp Rosemary (optional)
salt
pepper


Combine all ingredients and bring to a simmer stirring occasionally for about 15-20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

For the creamy texture, use an immersion blender to mush up the tomato to bits. If you don't have an immersion blender, you may mush the tomato beforehand in a regular blender or food processor before adding it to the stock. If you don't have either, tomato sauce will also make a good substitute.

Serves about 2-4 people

Shroomwich

I had bought some pre-sliced white mushrooms the other day from Whole Foods and wondered what I can make with them. I had some cheese and pan de sal (filipino bread). The easiest thing I could think of was a sandwich. Plus, I was pretty tired from the day. I only used half of the package and it made about two sandwiches.



Shroomwich


1/2 medium onion - sliced
2 cups sliced white mushroom - rough estimate (or any mushroom you prefer)
salt & pepper to season
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tbsp Butter or margarine
Swiss cheese slices
Bread of choice


In a saute pan, heat oil and melt butter on a medium to low. Sweat onions when butter is nearly melted. You'd want them to have a nice soft and floppy texture to them. Then add the mushrooms. Season with a little salt and pepper to taste. Cook for about 5.

Preheat oven to 350˚F and toast one slice of the bread for 5 min on a baking sheet or a piece of foil. When the bread is toasted, place a nice helping mushroom on it then a slice of swiss. Place back into the oven and toast the top piece of bread as well for 5-10 or until cheese is nice and melted.

Honey Mustard Mayo Dipping Sauce

Had some white sweet potatoes in the fridge, so I made more baked sweet potato fries this past weekend as a little lunch/snack. To go along with it I made a small batch of a super simple and easy honey mustard mayo dipping sauce. For anyone who's been to Pomme Fritz in New York, you may know that they have a nice selection of mayo and dipping sauces for their fries. I've never been there. But I would love to go when I get the chance. Also, this can be a nice sandwich spread, too. (But it ain't my special mustard spread, if you're wondering. :-P)


Honey Mustard Mayo Dipping Sauce

1 1/2 Tbsp Mayo (you may use light mayo)
1 Tbsp Yellow Mustard
1 Tbsp Honey

Combine ingredients together in a small bowl.


Told you it was simple. It'll have a nice lemon color and it's not too sweet or tangy. It's a neat substitute for ketchup. Gives a dish a little flair. =)

For my recipe on sweet potatoe fries click here.

Cini Mini Bites with Cream Cheese Frosting

Now for the 4th and final recipe of the 4-part meal. I remember watching Barefoot Contessa on day and on the episode, Ina Garten had made some easy sticky buns.(Click here to view her recipe) It got me thinking on making some, but bite-sized. Here's my adaptation.

As I mentioned in the first of this 4-part post. Puff pastry usually comes in tri-folded sheet. The recipe below will use 1/3 of that pastry puff.

Serving size: 1/3 will generally make around 11 to 12 bites. One whole puff pastry will make 33 to 36 including edges.

The cream cheese frosting is similar to the cream cheese filling minus the strawberries.



Cini Mini Bites

1/3 Puff Pastry Sheet (cut at crease)
1 Tbsp Brown Sugar (plus 4 Tbsp extra)
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp Toffee Bits
1 Tbsp chopped Pecan chips (plus extra)
1/4 tsp melted butter
4 Tbsp butter (softened)
all purpose flour

Preheat oven 400˚F

Place pastry puff on a well-floured flat surface. Longest side towards you. Sprinkle brown sugar over dough, leaving a little over 1/2" at the top for the edge crust. Then sprinkle ground cinnamon, toffee bits and pecan chips. Make sure to get all the other sides but that open 1/2"

Brush the melted butter on that open 1/2", then roll the the dough nice and snug from the bottom up. Cut into 3/4" pieces.

Cream together the extra 4 Tbsp butter and 4 Tbsp brown sugar on a small bowl.

For baking sheets: Place mini muffins on greased sheet and place a tiny dollop of the butter and brown sugar mix and sprinkle some extra pecan ships.

For mini-muffin pans: place a tiny dollup of the butter mix at the bottom of each cup. Then place one piece of the cinnamon bites on top.

Bake for 10min.

For mini-muffin pans: to remove mini-bites, flip the pan onto a flat surface.
For sheet pans: remove with spatula.


Cream Cheese Frosting
2 oz. Cream Cheese (roughly 4 Tbsp)
4 Tbsp Confectioner Sugar (powdered sugar)
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

Mix all three ingredients together in a small bowl


Putting it together: Place a nice dollop of frosting on each cini mini bite and enjoy!

Strawberry Strudel

Number 3 in the 4-part meal. Using pastry puff again. This recipe will make about two strudel squares.



Strawberry Strudel

2 puff pillows - halved

For a refresher on puff pillows: click here


Cream Cheese and Strawberry Filling
2 oz. Cream Cheese (roughly 4 Tbsp)
4 Tbsp Powdered Sugar (plus extra for dusting)
1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 Tbsp strawberry jam (plus 4 Tbsp extra - optional)
Fresh Sliced Strawberries (optional)

Mix cream cheese, confectioner sugar and vanilla extract in a small bowl. Heat strawberry jam in microwave to 15 to soften and combine with cream cheese mix.

With the puff pillows already halved, take the bottom slice of the pillow and spread a nice helping of the strawberry filling. Optional: You may add some of the additional strawberry jam on top of the cream cheese in place of the fresh sliced strawberries or add both.

Then place the top half of the puff pillow and dust with a light or heavy coating of powdered sugar.


Yum!

Puff Egg Sammies

Dish #2 of a 4-part meal.

I had finally found some puff pastry in my local grocery. Whenever I went, there didn't seem to be any in the freezer section. That and ladyfingers. But on one trip there was. Woo...

Anyway...puff pastry usually comes tri-folded, so it will be easy in dividing these. One sheet will make about 9 sammies. Cut along the folds making 3 strips. Then divide each strip into 3 squares.

The recipe below will make about 4 sammies.


Puff Pillows

4 3"puff pastry squares
1/2 tsp butter or margarine (melted)

Preheat oven 325˚F

Place the 4 squares of pastry puff on a baking sheet with either a silpat or parchment paper. Lightly butter each square evenly on the top and bake for about 10 min. This will make the puff up into pillows.

When done, remove from oven and let cool. Slice the pillows in half. Don't put too much force when slicing them as they will flatten easily. They'll look like beignets in shape and the inside should look almost hollow.



Scrambled Egg

4 eggs (scrambled)
1/2 c mild shredded cheddar (I use Sargento)
1/8 tsp salt (literally a tiny pinch)

Heat a pan with a little drizzle of oil. Place the cheddar cheese and salt in the eggs and mix. Once the pan is well heated pour in the egg mixture. It will cook pretty quick, so stir and scrap constantly until egg is fully cooked and cheese is nicely blended in. (You may mix in herbs, spices or other ingredients to your liking)


Putting it all together: Take the bottom of the puff pillow and spread some mayo or your choice of sandwich spread. I use my own special spread made from a yellow mustard base. Then place a nice helping of scrambled egg on each. Top it off with the other half of the puff pillow.


These are great for breakfast, lunch or dinner. No need for egg mcmuffins. Not that I liked those anyway. Enjoy!