I did some baking for our Christmas Open House – and used my Lakeland mini morsel maker for everything
I did some tiny sponge cakes – 24 paper petit four cases fit beautifully into the pan, and my 1” ice cream scoop deposits a consistent amount of cake mix. [6oz each of flour, butter and sugar, plus 3 eggs makes 48 mini cakes]
And I made some mini mince pies – cutting different shaped pastry pieces for a variety of tops.
Being small, these have the advantage that you can eat them in one mouthful – no risk of losing half of one of these!
The new Chinese supermarket in Leicester sell packs of 36 wrappers for just over £1. You just push them in the tin and bake in a hot oven for a few minutes.
They came out as crisp little baskets. Into each one I put a tiny dollop of crème fraiche, a snip of smoked mackerel, and a garnish of orange pepper and sliver of green spring onion tops. One fillet of smoked mackerel yielded enough to fill 24 baskets.
Red pepper would have been more festive – but I only had orange peppers in the fridge!
They tasted very good – but I realised you must fill them immediately before serving, as they go soft very quickly.
The few left at the end of the evening had quite soggy bottoms
As well as the three sorts of mini morsels, i did some celery crudités, and retro cheese, pineapple cubes, and sausages on sticks, and some cherry tomatoes. I also put crisps and tiny biscuits in bowls.
For drinks we had various fruit juices, tea, coffee and apple wassail [recipe here]
What ‘nibbles’ do you serve your Christmas guests?
I have tin envy - I've only ever seen such a thing at a 'Pampered Chef' party retailing for a ridiculous amount of money. I'm just doing cheese and biscuits and a baked camembert, and normal sized mince pies, when the neighbours come round on Xmas Eve. If I had a tin and a dibber like yours then I'd definitely do some mini morsels. On a separate note, I thought of you this week and smiled whilst watching the culmination of Krusty's Handmade Kirstmas...we definitely won't be gilting any pears with sheets of 22 carat gold for table decorations for the big day...
ReplyDeleteMine WAS expensive { I think it was around £12 when I got it, they are £17 now] but working out at "cost per use" it has earned its keep. They do come up on eBay sometimes.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely cheaper than a set of pure-gold-gilt-pear-place-markers, infinitely more useful and will last much longer! I watched Krusty too and wondered what gilded planet she lives on.
Christmas blessings to you and yours in Wiltshire
I yearned for a 'mini morsel' tin when they first came out a few years ago, but couldn't afford one - so created my own version. Bought a tiny hole baking tin from a bargain shop and use the end of a small rolling pin or other round end kitchen utensil to squidge the pastry in.
ReplyDeleteNow that's an intelligent idea! Must remember that for next year's Top Tips Post x
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