The requirements for party food are pretty simple, but hard and fast.
- Yummy
- Must travel well
- Must have the ability to sit at room temperature for extended periods of time
- Bonus if it evokes this sentence from at least one other party goer: "Can I get that recipe from you?"
CRUST
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 sticks of butter
1/3 cup ice cold water
FOR THE STRAWBERRY BRIE
4 oz brie, cut into slices
3/4 cups strawberries, chopped
1 tbs butter, melted
2 tbs sugar
FOR THE BACON GOAT CHEESE
6 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped
3 oz goat cheese, crummbled
1/2 cup fresh spinach, chopped (don’t use frozen, too much water)
Makes 12 (6 of each)
In a food processor, combine 1 1/3 cup flour, salt, sugar and butter, process until well combined. Add the remaining flour and process again until combined. Transfer to a bowl and add the water with a wooden spoon (don’t add the water while the dough is in the food processor or your dough will be brittle and cracker-like). If the dough isn’t moist enough, you can add more water, a tsp at a time until the consistency is right. Form dough into a disk, wrap with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. You can make this up to 5 days ahead of time, just place the dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, in a large zip lock bag.
Place your chilled dough on a well floured surface. Top with more flour and roll until your dough is fairly thin and even. Cut out 12, 4 inch circles. I didn’t have a biscuit cutter that size so I used a margarita glass.
Place the dough circles on baking sheets that are either covered with parchment paper or sprayed with cooking spray.
Strawberry Brie:
A Trader Joe’s just opened on Friday down the street from my house. I am inappropriately excited about living within walking distance from such a fabulous food source. I bought these cute mini brie wheels. These are also fantastic to make mini baked brie out of, but that is for another post.
I cut each wheel into 3-4 slices. If you don’t live by a Trader Joe’s, you can also just use regular brie and cut it into slices small enough to fit inside the circle.
Place about 1 tbs of brie in the center of 6 of the circles. Top with about 2 tbs of strawberries.
Fold the edges up over the filling, leaving the center open. Pleat and press the edges when necessary.
Brush each of the 6 Mini Galettes with melted butter, sprinkle with about 1 tsp of sugar each.
Bacon Goat Cheese:
For the remaining 6 circles, add about 1-2 tbs of goat cheese to each circle. Top with 1-2 tbs of chopped spinach, sprinkle with bacon.
Fold the edges up over the filling, leaving the center open. Pleat and press the edges when necessary.
Brush the folded edge of each of the 6 Mini Galettes with melted butter.
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes, or until the crust is a light golden brown.