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Saturday, February 11, 2012

SWEET !! hearts

finished hor d'oeurves - ready to transport 

As stated previously, "I am not a sugar fan".

I am, however, a fan of 'cute'.
And generally (with a few exceptions) I like holidays.

Someone 'pinned' a yummy kid snack for Valentine's.


It made my brain perk right up.
It was NOT a cookie.
It did NOT have sugar as an ingredient.

I wondered if I could make it into a 'cute'  hor d'oeurve.
Could it be modified to look more grownup?
[But still be cute?]
How could it be bite size?
How could I eliminate the raw pasta?

I thought. I bought. I experimented.

What about ready made dough?
What about cocktail sausages?
What about Lit'l Smokies?
And what if they had a coupon? - Oh sure now they do!


The Lit'l Smokies are a workable idea.  I just cut them in half - more or less - on an angle. Make it a long angle. And if you need to, cut a slice out of the middle.



Each package has abt 39 ish.

Some are long. Some are short. Some are squished. Use them all. Get Creative.

This is art!



Flip one half.
Match cut sides.
Push cuts together.
Viola' - you have a heart!


I hated my first try. I used pre-made canned biscuits. I tried a little knot to hold them in place. The knot slid off. They tasted like - big surprise - biscuits. My husband liked them though.

I made a batch without knots. They still tasted like biscuits. I gave them to my grand-kids.

My daughter suggested a no brainer idea to hold the pieces together. What about frilled toothpicks? Sure enough, you can pick those up at the grocery store.

So I thought about and priced crackers.
Could I just pre-cook the Lit'l Smokies?
No way ... I am too cheap!
Snack Crackers are expensive.

A friend once gave me an excellent Crescent Roll recipe.
Thanks Caye. These are ALWAYS good.
And so easy too.

I made some dough.


I rolled it out and cut out some hearts.
Look at that - works just like making cookies.
Except you need to not stretch them.
Or let them raise too much before placing them.
Just cut out a few at once and then move to the pan.

REMEMBER - this is fun!

Let them be a little this way and that way.

Who said hearts have to be any certain shape?


I enjoyed matching hotdog shapes to dough shapes.

I filled 2 large pans full.
Each pan had about 20 hearts.
The basic recipe made about 80 hearts.

I cut the Lit'l Smokies after placing the dough hearts on the pans. The dough had started to raise a little. I pressed the 'heart' sausage into the centre of the dough heart firmly.


I cut the dough ball  in half, filled 2 pans with dough hearts, added the sausages, then did 2 more with the other half of the dough. Meanwhile the scraps I had kneaded into a ball from the first half had raised.

I rolled them once more. Those tended to 'distort' more and 'shrink' after cutting. No problem - they were just a bit more 'bite size'.

I covered them with a clean damp dishtowel, and put the pans in the cold storage area to raise overnight. It was late. I went to bed. And to sleep!  They raised in the cold about 5 hours.   I got up early. I brought them in the warm kitchen and turned on the oven. I set the timer. Not for the rolls - for me, silly - I went to sleep for half an hour while they both warmed up.

I baked them at about 350 ° F for about 10 minutes - just until golden. [My oven tends to bake a bit unevenly so I turned the pan half way through.] 

After baking I brushed the edges with melted butter (yes it has to be real butter). You can use shortening but that is what they will taste like. I like butter. As they cool the sausage pieces may seperate - do not worry ...

After cooling them I skewered the 'heart' sausage together with the frilled toothpick and put a wedge of cheese on the point.  They now look like Cupid's arrow has struck.

I refuse to tell you how to cut a triangle out of cheese. You can do it. TRY! This is supposed to be ... oh, never mind - just go cut cheese your way.


I shared these with coworkers. They loved them.

They wanted the instructions and recipe.
This is as close as it gets.

One lady is going to use them at a wedding!!

Use any recipe you like for dough.
I like Caye's. [see comments below]

And have a wonderful Valentine's Day.
If you make treats and give them to your 'Valentines' you will.
What - some of you don't think you have any??
How can that be???

Duh - you can go first!
Just do it!
Tell someone you love them.
Seriously!

And if no one sends you a Valentine why not make some for yourself?

Enjoy!


1 comment:

  1. Crescent Dinner Rolls by Caye
    Make ahead, freeze, raise, bake
    5 ½ cups of flour
    ½ cup sugar
    1 ½ tsp salt
    2 pkgs (1 Tbsp) yeast
    1 ¼ cups water
    ½ cup milk (for dairy free product use water)
    1/3 cup butter (for dairy free product use shortening)
    2 eggs at room temperature (for egg free product use 2 T oil)

    In a large bowl thoroughly mix 2 of the cups of flour with the sugar, salt and undissolved dry yeast.

    Combine water, milk and margarine in a saucepan. Heat over low heat until liquids are very warm – 120 to 130 degrees, about the temperature of water to wash dishes in. The butter does not need to melt. Gradually add to dry ingredients and beat 2 minutes medium speed of the mixer, scraping bowl occasionally.
    Add eggs and ½ cup flour while beating at high for 2 minutes scraping sides. For egg free rolls do a couple tablespoons of oil while beating.
    Stir in by hand, enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough, (2 ½ - 3 cups). Turn out on to lightly floured board, knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. Place in large bowl rubbed with oil, turn dough once to grease both sides. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.
    Punch down dough. Shape into desired shapes or dinner rolls. I like to divide it into 2 balls and roll one at a time into a circle about the size of a pizza pan and cut into 12 triangles. Then roll into crescent rolls. Sometimes I brush the triangles with melted butter and then roll them up.
    Raise in a refrigerator or very cool place 4 or more hours.
    Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
    OR
    Place on greased baking sheets and freeze until firm and then transfer to freezer bags. If freezing just overnight I just leave them on the cookie sheets covered with foil until ready to thaw. Freeze up to 4 weeks - NO LONGER
    Remove from freezer, place on greased baking sheets. Cover, let raise in warm place, free from draft until double in bulk (about 3 hours) .
    You can double or triple this recipe.

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