Finger Foods

This post will not have actual recipes because I have been experimenting with items I saw on Pinterest and many times the actual recipe isn't there so I had to figure out how to adjust my regular recipes to create these wonderful finger foods.

My Attempt

Pinterest BLT

My first attempt was BLTs. I thought the picture was cute and the taste would be wonderful. I was correct on both accounts except for the execution of making these little gems. My first task was to get the cherry tomato to stand up properly so I sliced a very little off the bottom and then the juice wanted to come out. Then, I tried to turn it upside down and slice only a little off the top so I could begin to core it, only you really need a very sharp knife to do this. BTW, how do you core a cherry tomato? I made somewhat of a mess trying to core a tomato. Next, how do you stuff lettuce in a cherry tomato? I attempted this by tearing the lettuce into very small bites. I did discover if I put my bacon strips in a small plastic bag, I could crumble it with out having to lick my fingers all the time. Assembling these takes some patience and next time I think I will wear disposable gloves because of all the poking with the food that people will eat. My camera is doing its own thing so I never know how the pictures will actually turn out. This one of my tomato is a little fuzzy.

Pinterest Strawberry Cheesecake

My Version

My next attempt was the (single) strawberry with cheesecake filling I saw on Pinterest. I read the comments and so many great suggestions were added to the original post. One person suggested using the make and bake cheesecake from a box purchased in the baking aisle instead of making it from scratch (this Pinterest post did have the recipe). I have always liked that particular item and felt the time I would save was worth not making it from scratch. Plus, as another reviewer posted, the graham cracker topping is included in the box and suggested sprinkling a little graham mixture on top of each strawberry. Finally, another person posted she would drizzle a little chocolate over the completed strawberry. I opted out of this addition as it might be too messy to pick up once the masterpieces were completed. Okay, so how hard can it be to slice a strawberry in perpendicular directions, fan it out a little and pipe in some cheesecake and top it with graham cracker crumbs? I found I needed more hands. This cheesecake pipes really well when you first make it. Once it has had a chance to chill and gel, it is harder to pipe into the strawberry. They were very delicious and since I was eating more strawberry than cheesecake I felt I was consuming less calories this way than eating a normal slice of cheesecake!

Pinterest Lemon Curd pie

Flower shaped pan for pie crust cutter

perfect size

align petals so they won't touch

Pumpkin pie flowers

I saw these little flower shaped pies and thought they were little pumpkin pies. How cute! But they were lemon curd. Okay, so I can just change out the filling to pumpkin pie (or chocolate pie). But, how many will my favorite recipe make and how long should I bake it? I have always liked the recipe on the back of the Libby's pumpkin can (not the pie mix) and I had a packaged refrigerated pie crust in the refrigerator so I used that instead of making my own pie crust. I didn't have a flower cookie cutter but did have a flower shaped bread pan that was just the right size! I was able to cut out 29 flowers from two pie crusts. But I had enough filling (using the large can of pumpkin) to make 154 flower pies. I found a 1/8 measuring cup that made it easy to fill the pie crusts with the pumpkin mix (1/8 cup filled two pie shells). I did adjust the baking time to 425 degrees (15 mins) and then turn it down to 350 degrees for an additional 10 minutes. My crust did get a little darker than I had wanted so I will experiment with the time and temperature on the next batch. I am also experimenting to see if these freeze well after baking them.

Mini Chocolate Cupcakes

Pinterest cupcakes

Finally, I loved the mini cupcakes using ketchup cups, except I won't go to the fast foods and beg for cups. I have mini cupcake liners and tried them instead. They worked just fine in my mini cupcake pans (same pans I used for the pies above). I found a tablespoon that was just the right size to spoon the cake batter into the mini cupcake liners. I saw a YouTube video about putting the batter in a plastic bag and piping it in but after trying piping from a plastic bag with my strawberry cheesecakes, I knew I would leave too much cake batter behind in the bag. Again, how many will a regular cake box make and how long do I bake them? I can make 82 mini cupcakes with one box of cake mix and I did see a post on Pintrest about baking cupcake so they rise nicely and don't have the volcano peaks and break open. So I tried their method by preheating the oven to 350 degrees and as soon as I put the pans in the oven, turned down the temperature to 325 degrees. I am pleased on how the cupcakes turned out. I baked them for 20 minutes. I can freeze them unfrosted and frost them at a later date.

Tablespoon to add batter to cupcake liner

Fill half way full