mini cheese & bacon quiches - "big purses, big hair, big men"

I live by this rule: The bigger, the better. Big purses, big hair, big men, ...and I should probably stop this here. I follow this philosophy probably because subconsciously it makes me feel smaller. Now, I know I'm no huge obese whale, but I'm definitely not a teensy tiny twig. To contradict everything I have just said (haha), I actually love mini-sized food. Okay, I can actually put the two concepts together- Miniature foods allow me to portion control my food intake, thus keeping me a smaller size. (Complete blatant lie- I end up eating more in the long run.)



There's just something about tiny cutesy edible things that are so fucking adorable. I'm obsessed with the concept of appetizers, and I think every meal of every day for the rest of my life should consist of tiny handheld balls of cuteness (that's what she said). Completely unrealistic, especially seeing how long these things can take to create. I actually cut my time drastically by rolling my dough into balls and flattening them out, opposed to rolling the entire thing flat and cutting individual sized circles.



I had this grand image of me creating tons of mini appetizers and making assorted plates of deliciousness for all of my grandma's friends. Didn't happen. After doing the crust of these quiches (a minimum hour), it was time to create a filling. I whipped together what we had in the fridge- assortments of cheeses and meats. I then attempted to pour them into the muffin tins with the differences noted in my head. Unfortunately I forgot where I put what. Fortunately, although not purposely, they all tasted the same anyways.



I used a pate sucree (how you like them French apples?), which is a pastry crust made for tarts and similar shit. It's on the sweeter side, but I figured I'd go with it anyways because this dough is just a thousand times easier to whip up than regular pie crust.


So what exactly does a sweet crust taste like with a savory filling? Unusually satisfying, that's for sure. I guess I never took into consideration how that contrast would play out in the final step. Well lucky for me- I have a very huge sweet tooth!

For those not so keen for the sweetness, I have actually attempted savory quiches- My mexican quiche tart came out extraordinary, as did my previous mini cheese and bacon quiches.

cream cheese deviled eggs - let me upgrade yaaa

I love my grandmother to death and I try to visit her as often as I can. Since I have begun my recent rollercoaster journey through cooking-enjoyment, we have learned to create a systematic plan of how my trip generally goes. The first day of my arrival, we fill the shopping cart to the brim with all essential groceries I could ever possibly need; we pick out a few cooking magazines/books; then we begin our plan of attack. I then write all possible recipes I plan to recreate, and then organize them in a timely manner. Amidst all of my calculations, I usually let my grandma flip through some of the recipes to see what she'd like to make.


Really grandma? You want to make deviled-frikin-eggs? There's hundreds of recipes in these magazines- everything from french onion soup to red bean chili to eggplant parmigiana- and yet she picked the most basic and easiest one.


Whatever grandma wants, is what grandma gets. Although not entirely- I'm planning on sprucing it up a bit. Cream cheese and bacon- absolutely nothing can go wrong with this combination.


Fun fact: The smell of fresh hard boiled eggs makes me dry heave. After my near vomit experience, I shoved the creamy cream cheese filling into a large ziplock bag, creating a makeshift piping bag (I'm so nifty with this shit).


And voila- fancy shmancy curly piped delived eggs. Can it get any cuter? (Answer: Yes. Scroll down).



Little bits of crispy bacon! I made it rain on them hoes.


The bacon first and foremost lent a crunchy texture that the soft filling needed. Equally important (in my aesthetically-driven mind, at least), the bacon helped create a gorgeous contrast in color. And last but not least- the little adorable deviled eggs tasted fucking delicious. Mission accomplished.

super bowl - creamy pesto chicken roll up thingamajigs - the official name for my creation

As far as appetizer ideas for the Super Bowl went, I wasn't being very original. The bacon quiches I made slightly resemble the sausage quiches I made for Thanksgiving; just as the three cheese pinwheels were so similar to the bacon pinwheels I also made for Thanksgiving. I needed something I could call my own- an original creation of some sort. I dug through my fridge looking for inspiration, and landed my eyes on my old jar of pesto sauce which I used for the first meal I ever cooked in my life. I decided I would make a creamy pesto filling and wrap them in the Pillsbury biscuit dough. I also wanted to use a new meat instead of bacon or sausage, so I opted for chicken (which I had tons of stored in the freezer).


I made my own concoction of cooked chicken, pesto, chopped basil, cream cheese, and other little additions. Not trying to toot my own horn or anything- but this creamy sauce was pretty darn tasty.


I spread each biscuit round into a larger circle and dolloped the filling in the center to be wrapped into a little purse. It almost looks like a little Chinese dumpling right?


In between batches of my other appetizers, I readied the baking sheet for my little chicken-biscuit-roll-ups.


The tops slightly spread apart and revealed the creamy center, but the little biscuit balls remained perfectly intact (and quite cute if I do say so myself).


The underside of the rounds were much thinner than the thick and crusty top, probably due to me rolling them out so thin and wrapping them up too much at the top. Regardless, they cooked thoroughly and smelt delectable after taking them out of the oven.


These were definitely my favorite of all the other appetizers I made that day. The pesto mixed with cream cheese gave this a multilayered spectrum of flavor that I couldn't even begin to describe. The chicken breast was also a good choice because it was an empty slate for all the other flavors to adhere to and was not overwhelming at all.


The only qualm I had was that there wasn't enough filling to satisfy my needs. The dough to filling ratio was off balanced, probably due to me using biscuit rounds opposed to crescent rolls which would have let me make a bigger pocket to stuff. Other than that, I can honestly say that I'm proud of myself for "winging it" while cooking, and also by not using a set in stone recipe. Yay for me.

---RECIPE---
Adapted by many recipes online, but made by me.

ingredients:
1/2 cup (about) cooked chicken, chopped or shredded
1/2 of 8-ounce cream cheese, softened
Quite a few leaves of chopped basil
2 tablespoon jarred pesto sauce
2 tablespoon cooked onion
1 clove garlic
2 cans Pillsbury refrigerated biscuits

directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine everything except biscuits.
3. Spread each biscuit round almost twice its size.
4. Drop about a tablespoon or so of filling into center of biscuit and wrap up as if it were a purse. Pinch edges to seal.
5. Place on cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.

amount:
Makes about 20.

super bowl - mini bacon & cheddar quiches - not very bacon-y

So what other types of Super Bowl appetizers could I create with crescent rolls- Quiches? But I already made sausage quiches for Thanksgiving. I figured I'd use some bacon instead and make it less bready than last time. I mean, come on- I bought a freakin' mini muffin pan so I need to find more uses for it to make my investment worthwhile. And to make the quiches even more delish I figured I'd make it extra cheesy this time. Last time it appeared that everyone enjoyed my sausage quiches, so if I just turn it up a notch or two, I was sure everyone would love these too.


I got the basic idea for ingredients from another Pillsbury recipes online. The quiche mixture is a lot more cream cheese than egg- which I ain't complaining about. I also added some sauteed onion and seasoning to make it even more tastier.


The morning of the Super Bowl I readied my cute little muffin tin. Instead of separating each biscuit in half as my base (which I did last time), I chose to divide them into three. I felt that last time it was too bready and less quichey, so I thought using less dough would solve that problem. On top of that went a little sprinkle of crushed crispy bacon.


And finally the baby tins get smothered in cheesy goodness.


I guess when the cheddar cheese melted into the egg mixture it made a weird little indentation pattern on the top. They looked interesting to say the least.


I was dying to get my hands on one of these adorable little bundles of cheese and carbs (probably my two favorite food groups).


They tasted pretty good actually. The biscuit dough baked perfectly and was the best vehicle for carrying the light and creamy cheese mixture. Unfortunately they lacked in the bacon department.


They probably should have just been called "mini cheese quiches" considering each little guy probably had a miniscule portion of bacon. This picture is actually very deceiving- in reality, most of the quiches had probably half (if that) amount of bacon seen in this lucky quiche.


For some reason though I couldn't stop eating these babies. I must sound like a broken record- but honestly to me, anything with cheese tastes delicious.

---RECIPE---
Idea from All Recipes, but slightly adapted.

ingredients:
4 slices bacon
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons milk
2 eggs
2 tablespoon cooked onion
1 clove garlic
1 sprinkle of salt, pepper, and garlic powder
1 can Pillsbury refrigerated biscuits

directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease mini muffin cups.
2. Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until crisp and evenly brown. Drain, crumble, and set aside.
3. Place the cream cheese, milk, and eggs in a medium bowl, and beat until smooth with an electric mixer set on low. Stir in cheddar cheese, onion, garlic, and seasoning, and set aside.
4. Separate each biscuit dough into three pieces. Press each mini biscuit into the bottom and sides of each muffin cup. Sprinkle bacon evenly into the bottoms of the dough-lined muffin cups. Spoon cheese mixture into each cup, reaching almost the brim.
5. Bake 10-15 minutes in the preheated oven, until filling is set and rims of the tarts are golden brown.

amount:
Makes 30 mini quiches.