[Darling Lili]

Does anyone have any good recipes for Christmas Eve Hors' Dourves?

[Stefan Stackhouse]

Does anyone have any good recipes for Christmas Eve Hors' Dourves?

Not exclusively Christmas, but:

Mix equal volumes of good quality bulk sausage and pork-flavored stuffing mix, form into balls, wrap with bacon, secure with toothpick, and bake in a pan @ 350 for 20-25 min. These will dissapear as quickly as you can make them!

[Diana Rose]

Take canned drained whole water chestnuts wrap a slice of bacon around each water chestnut and toothpick it. Dip in soy sauce and then brown sugar. Bake till bacon is done. Sorry no measurements or temp. I just wing it.

[carlo3b]

A trusted holiday treat, that can come in many sizes and flavors, Bruschettas. Start anywhere... here are a couple of great ones; Bruschetta

• 1 French baguette
• 3 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 onion, minced
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pinch ground black pepper
  8 ounces mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
1) In a small mixing bowl, combine tomatoes, onion, garlic, basil, oregano, and salt and pepper. Mix well, cover, and refrigerate. 
2) Cut the loaf of French bread into 12 slices on the diagonal. Arrange the bread on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 5 minutes, or until golden brown. Reduce the oven's temperature to 250 degrees F (120 degrees C).
3) Spoon equal amounts of the tomato mixture onto the toasted slices of bread.
4) Top with slices of mozzarella. Place the pan of bread back into the oven until the cheese has melted just slightly and is oozing over the tomatoes, approximately 2 minutes. Serve immediately.
Makes 12

---

Holiday Artichoke Bruschetta

• 1 med. jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 1/2 cup grated Romano cheese
• 1/3 cup finely chopped red onion
• 5 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 French baguette, cut into 1/3 inch thick slices

1 Preheat the broiler.
2 In a medium bowl, mix marinated artichoke hearts, Romano cheese, red onion and mayonnaise. Top French baguette slices with equal amounts of the artichoke heart mixture. Arrange slices in a single layer on a large baking sheet.
3 Broil in the preheated oven 2 minutes, or until toppings are bubbly and lightly browned.
 Also great, add spinach or tomatoes!
Will make 8 yummy baguettes
  nbsp;
 

[Domestic Church]

Christmas Eve Hors' Dourves

Sweet n Sour Meatballs

Take a can of cranberry sauce (with berries) and a jar of tomato sauce and heat them up, stirring as needed and put it into a casserole dish with a bag of frozen meatballs...heat in oven or microwave. Serve with toothpicks.

[Utah Girl]

An easy recipe is cream cheese, cut in half diagonally, and arrange to look like a Christmas tree. Find a jar of good chili sauce (I use a brand called Homemade Chili sauce), pour it over the top of the cream cheese. If you want, you can put shrimp or that fake crab meat on the side, serve with crackers. If you want to go the Martha Stewart route, you can cut tiny stars out of green and yellow peppers and arrange them artistically on the tree.

A quick sweet treat is to melt white chocolate, mix some crushed candy canes into the chocolate, and pour onto a cookie sheet. When it is set, break into pieces.

[GYPSY286]

Yes - go to Sam's Club. In the freezer dept. they have a wonderful assortment. All are tasty. I used to try and make my own - too much time and trouble. They are reasonably priced too.

[carlo3b]

Sorry dear, please see post #93 as well...for this to fit in...LOL

 

Fresh Basil and Walnut Dip

• 8 oz (225 g) low-fat or fat-free cream cheese
• 1/2 cup (125 ml) chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 Tbs. (30 ml) grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 Tbs. (15 ml) red wine or balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp. (5 ml) prepared horseradish
• Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped walnuts

Combine all ingredients except the walnuts in a
food processor and process until smooth.  Stir in the walnuts.
Serve with raw vegetables for dipping,
This recipe will produce about 1 cup. You can increase this to fit your party... you will love this because it is entirely different and great tasting.

[Nora]

Millions - how many folks do you want to serve? How substantially? Will you have any kitchen help? Are many of your guests likely to be fish only for Christmas Eve?

OK, OK, I'll quit prying. Here are a couple of faves around here:

Stuffed mushrooms. Wipe and stem your mushrooms whenever is handy, up to a couple of days ahead. Put the caps in the fridge, wrapped loosely in paper towels. Similarly, whenever is handy, up to maybe a week ahead, mix together equal parts of softened cream cheese and devilled ham. Put the ham mixture in a zip lock bag of convenient size and put in fridge. When ready to serve, cut a corner out of the ziplock and "pipe" stuffing into the caps. Bake at 425 5-7 minutes. You can make your own devilled ham with ham, onion, garlic, cayenne, and mustard in proportions you like. If you are anticipating lots of ins and outs, put your filling into several smaller bags, because once the corner is cut, you have to fold it back in and attach a binder clip to reseal.

While I am thinking about ziplock bags - Devilled eggs are incredibly popular, but usually run out early, because who has room for all those trays of eggs in a home fridge? You do of course! Get your eggs right up to the point at which you would stuff 5 or 6 dozen - then put your halves in a large container willy nilly (yes 2 will tear, inevitably. Use those to treat the cook). Put your filling into zip lock bags. As needed, cut out a corner and pipe those suckers full in minutes per dozen.

I usually set up a sweets table, even if it is a hors d'oevre party, because it is CHRISTMAS!!!

Somebody has already pointed out the virtues of Sam's - be sure to get their eclairs, cream puffs, and danish pastries while you are there. If you follow the directions for defrosting exactly, they are exquisite. Now having saved all that time (and probably money, truth be told) you can play. Chocolate fondue is great fun, and almost as good made with any of the "New World Order" melt canned frosting recipes. In addition to the cake squares, you can put out fresh fruit pieces, making it easy for your guests to pass on having too many sweets without calling attention to that choice. Another fun "impact" dessert if you have a trifle bowl is trifle. There is no way to make that stuff for a small family - it seems called to 8th Army size - but is soooo pretty. Whatever sweets you put out also grab some footed dishes of various heights and fill with Jordan almonds, candied citrus peel, candied ginger, King Leo peppermint sticks, and some of whatever candy Santa used to leave in your stocking; your party is made!

I guess the fact I have been making my list, checking it twice, scouring out the fridge and going through flour and butter at unprecendented rates is showing.....LOL