Baby shower food!

The food table

So, my sweet pretend daughter (see her awesome profile right there? I sure love that girl!), had two requests - she's so easy to please! 

She said to her mom - You have to make your strawberry pretzel stuff. That's what's in the oval shaped dish on the back of the table. I have no idea how to make it, I just know I can't eat it. As a matter of fact, there was only one thing on this table I could eat... pshaw - the things we do for the people we love... I digress...The other request was for me and it was banana pudding. Easy!

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I also made a fruit pizza bar sort of thingy. Here's what you need for that:
Sugar cookies (make them a little big so there's good surface area)
Fruit (I used blueberries, peaches, and strawberries)
Icing (1 regular sized jar of fluff and 8oz room temp cream cheese, mix. Easy peasy, right??) 

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Then there was the Mozzarella Cheese Ball. I've never actually eaten this, but I've made it several times and always get rave reviews. I first saw it on Plain Chicken and I didn't change a thing!

• 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 package (4 1/2 tsp) dry ranch dressing mix
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• 2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• finely chopped pecans

Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl.  Mix well.  Form mixture into a ball and roll in chopped pecans.  I made two of them, so I just doubled the recipe. I served it with good, hearty crackers. 

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Finally, I made Pepperoni Pizza Puffs. I found this recipe a while back on Lick The Bowl Good. She pulled it from a couple places and made her own adaptations. I made them pretty much the way she did except I didn't measure most of it! haha. 

• 3/4 cup flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
• pinch of salt
• pinch of red pepper flakes 
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup cubed pepperoni

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, Italian seasoning, salt and red pepper flakes; whisk in the milk and egg. Stir in the mozzarella, Parmesan and pepperoni; let stand for 10 minutes.

Stir the batter and divide among the mini-muffin cups. Bake until puffed and golden, 20 minutes.Serve with pizza sauce. Really, do it. They may seem like they're missing something if you don't have the sauce! Next time I make them, I may try adding the sauce IN the muffins. Trial and error, baby! 

Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

I found this recipe while I was looking for new cookies to make for Christmas this year. It was listed on Allrecipes.com - I would make a few tweaks the next time I make them because I found them to be a little too sweet.

Ingredients:
1 box red velvet cake mix
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 Tbs. bourbon (I didn't use this)

Icing:
1 (8oz) pkg. softened cream cheese
1/4 c. softened butter
2 tsp. evaporated milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 c. flaked coconut (I didn't use this either)
4 c. powdered sugar (I would use much less, taste as you go)
1/2 c. well chopped pecans

Directions:
Mix together the cake mix, eggs, and oil (and bourbon if you're using it) in a large bowl. Cover the bowl and let it sit in the fridge for about an hour. You want it to be firm for the next step!

Now, preheat your oven to 375. Roll the cake mix dough into balls, about the size of walnuts, and place about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake until the tops begin to crack, about 8 minutes. Let the cookies cool for about 10 minutes before you remove them to cool completely on a wire rack.

In a large bowl, mix cream cheese, butter, evap. milk, vanilla and coconut if you're using it. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, taste it after two cups to see if it is sweet enough and continue to add until you're happy with the flavor. If it becomes too stiff, add more evap. milk.

Finally, take your chopped pecans and chop them more! =] You want these to be very small pieces, add them to a bowl. Spread a good amount of icing on the bottom of a cooled cookie, sandwich it with another cookie, pressing firmly so the icing comes all the way to the edge. Roll the edge of the cookies in the chopped pecans. Tada! It sounds like a lot of work, but it isn't so bad! Enjoy.