“I thought you gave up being a Party Animal some time ago?” Jabber inquired seriously. “Actually, what kind of party animal were you ‘xactly? Elephant, giraffe, or wolverine?”
Jabber, this has nothing to do with being a Party Animal. It has to do with food. I shall save the party animal discussion for another day. Besides, nobody believes I was ever a party animal, anyway. People my age (111) are certainly not allowed to be party animals any longer and many who knew us when we were are no long around. Or no longer remember. Except you. (And I was never any of those animals! As we all know, in my former life, I was an elegant Poodle.)
Party food requirements: It must be food which can be served at room temperature, it must be finger food, it must be tasty, can’t be too exotic and can’t be too common, it can’t be definitely ‘winter’ food when it is summer and it can’t be ‘summer food’ when it’s winter. And one has to consider costs and what is on-hand. It’s sometimes difficult to come up with something different, at least for moi.
This is what I came up with for a get-together:
(Oh for heaven’s sake, Weeders! Yes, in answer to your unspoken questions, I had the cream cheese, the puff pastry, the mustard, the cream, the jam on hand. I did NOT have the ham. So I went to the store and bought it. Deli ham slices—it said ‘sweet ham’ slices. And this easily made about 60 appetizers/party food snacks, so it was economical. Does that answer you questions?
What? Well, actually, they are rather easy to make. And actually, you can keep them in the refrigerator after they are cooled and they can be made a day ahead.
Best heated or at room temperature, though……Well, they are sort of appetizers and sort of desserts—could be either or both actually.
(Why am I writing ‘actually’ so many times?)
Yes. You are correct. I adapted this from other recipes I’d read online. Because.
Because it’s what I had available, that’s “Ka Buzz!” (why because!) PAY ATTENTION!
Are you quite done now? Well, good. On with the description and stop the interruptions! SERIOUS business this, preparing food. For a party. By an ex-poodle no less.)
Sweet and savory Palmiers:
Palmiers with powdered sugar
1 package puff pastry. Bring to room temperature, but do not allow to get too warm or you won’t be able to open up each sheet into its full size. (I know this. Ka-buzz.)**
Lightly flour a surface (I like to roll on parchment paper) and lightly roll out until the size of the sheet is about 11 by 8.
What? NO! You do not have to get the ruler and measure! APPROXIMATELY 11 by 8. That’ll do. Fine. Continue………..
Whip 8 ounces of room temperature cream cheese with a little cream until it is spreadable—do not make too soupy or you’ll be sorry! Spread this on the puff pastry.
Lightly dab some prepared spicy mustard and spread this over the cream cheese—not too much! (About 2 Tablespoons maximum, I’d guess—I think I used very little, maybe just 1 Tablespoon.)
Huh? You want to know why I don’t have persact measurements? Oh come on, folks! Because I made it up! As I went along. And blogging about it was not at the top of my list/mind when I did it.
Layer some sliced deli ham on top—a couple of pieces ‘deep’. (I only had one slice ‘deep’—it would be better with twice the amount of ham I put on it.)
Spread on some apricot jam lightly.
Take one long edge and fold to the center, then the other long edge and fold to the center to meet the first edge. (This is where using parchment paper is very helpful! Use the edges to ‘roll’ the pastry to the center.)
Finally, the folded edges on the outside of each of the longest sides are folded to meet. Pinch the ends closed.
Now, lay a piece of plastic wrap against the long side and using the parchment paper, roll the pastry onto the plastic wrap.
Lightly wrap in the plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator—this is KEY!—for at least 45 minutes.
Prepare the second sheet of puff pastry, if desired.
Preheat oven to 400.
After 45 minutes, remove chilled pastry from refrigerator and with a serrated knife, cut into 1/2 inch pieces. These should look like little hearts.
Place on parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 20 minutes or longer until pastry is golden brown. (Mine took about 30 minutes, but watch them so they don’t burn. Remember, I didn’t have any real guidelines to follow.)
Remove and cool on a cookie sheet and sift powdered sugar over top while warm and repeat once cooled (if desired).
I served them with optional apricot jam to be dabbed on top of each palmier. (Below topped with apricot jam.)
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“That what you had for breakfast, then?” Jabber inquired.
No! We had this for breakfast:
I had a bit of leftover ham, so combined with slices of turkey, cheese and made Monte Cristo sandwiches with two leftover tortillas. I used the leftover apricot jam and some fresh blueberries as well. The recipe for Monte Cristo sandwiches is here:
http://harpethview.com/2013/03/26/monte-cristo-breakfast-sandwiches/#comments
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Grandson, way back when he was little, used to say “Ka-Buzz” for “Because.” We all thought it was very cute and the word became part of family vocabulary. Ka-Buzz it did, that’s kabuzz why!