Croustade Cups Food

MUSHROOM CROUSTADES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously butter (or spray with butter-flavored Pam) 48 mini-muffin tins.
• Cut a 2-inch round from each slice of bread and press into muffin tins. Bake for 6 to 7 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove from tins and cool on a wire rack.
• In a large skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. Add onions and mushrooms and cook until tender and the moisture from the mushrooms has evaporated. Sprinkle with flour; stir thoroughly, reduce heat to low and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add cream and stir constantly while bringing to a boil. Add wine, reduce heat and simmer for 3 to 4 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
• Remove from heat and stir in cayenne pepper, parsley and green onion. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spoon mushroom filling into croustades and place on a large cookie sheet. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Heat in oven for 10 minutes or until bubbly.

LITTLE CROUSTADES FILLED WITH GRAVADLAX AND SOURED CREAM

Steps:

• Begin by placing the slices of bread on a flat surface and rolling them with a rolling pin to make them as thin as possible. Next stamp out rounds using a 2¼ inch (5.5 cm) plain cutter. Melt the butter in a small pan containing the garlic and a seasoning of salt and freshly milled black pepper. Now brush the little bread rounds on both sides with melted butter and then press them into the tins firmly. Bake them for about 15-20 minutes or until crisp and brown. Cool them on a wire rack and store them in an airtight tin for up to 2 weeks. To fill them for serving, simply pile the finely chopped gravadlax into each one and top with a little of the sauce that comes with it. Add a blob of soured cream and a dash of cayenne pepper.

MUSHROOM CROUSTADES

Steps:

• For Croustade:
• Use a rolling pin to flatten each bread slice. Cut 3" (18 small) or 4" (12 large) rounds and gently fit into small or large muffin tins.
• Bake for 10 - 15 minutes at 425 or until golden and crisp. Cool on wire racks.
• Filling:.
• Melt butter in a large skillet and saute green onions for several minutes without browning.
• Stir in the mushrooms and mix well. Cook 10 - 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until moisture has evaporated.
• Remove from heat, sprinkle with flour and stir to coat the mushrooms.
• Gradually add the cream and return to heat.
• Bring to a boil, stirring constantly and then reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes until thick.
• Stir in all the other ingredients.
• Transfer filling to a bowl, cover it and refrigerate until ready to use.
• To Serve:.
• Place croustade on cookie sheet and fill each croustade with mushroom filling so that it is slightly mounded.
• Sprinkle lightly with parmesan cheese and dot with butter.
• Bake at 350 for 10 minutes and then turn to broil and brown the tops lightly.
• Serve hot.

CHICKEN CROUSTADE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
• With a rolling pin, roll out each bread slice until thin. Cut out bread with plain round cutter 1 1/2 inches in diameter and flatten again with a rolling pin. Oil small muffin tins and place the bread rounds inside. Bake until golden. Store the croustade shells covered in a dry area.
• Reduce the cream by half and reserve until needed. Saute the chicken in 1 tablespoon oil until half cooked. Add the prosciutto and continue to cook until is thoroughly heated and chicken is thoroughly cooked. Add the cream and black pepper, to taste; bring to a simmer. Add a little hot cream to the egg yolk to temper and add to pot, being careful not to boil. Add the cheese, basil, and parsley. Adjust seasoning. Fill the croustade shells; sprinkle with a little additional grated Parmesan and brown lightly under a broiler or salamander. Serve warm.

GREEK STYLE CROUSTADE

Steps:

• Cook spinach acc to pkg directions; drain well and squeeze out all liquid.
• In saucepan, cook onion in the 3 T butter; stir in flour, tarragon, and pepper.
• Add milk all at once;cook and stir until thick and bubbly.
• Stir half the hot mixture into eggs, return all to saucepan.
• Stir in spinach, cottage cheese and feta cheese.
• Brush 1 sheet of phyllo dough with butter, fold into thirds.
• Place one end in center of 14in pizza pan, extending sheet over the edge of the pan.
• Brush with butter.
• Repeat until all 10 sheets of dough are used.
• Make sure middle of pan is covered with dough.
• Place filling in an 8in circle at the center of pan.
• Starting with the last sheet you laid, lift end up and bring toward center, twist the end of the sheet, coil, and tuck under.
• Repeat with remaining sheets.
• Sheets will not meet in the center, center will be open.
• Drizzle any remaining butter over top.
• Bake at 375* for 35 minutes, until golden.
• Cut into wedges.

JAM-FILLED CROUSTADES

Steps:

• Dough: In a small bowl, sprinkle yeast over milk; stir until dissolved. Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in vanilla seeds. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the dough-hook attachment, mix together 4 1/2 cups flour, sugar, salt, and 1/2 stick butter on low speed until butter is incorporated and mixture resembles coarse meal, 3 to 4 minutes. Add yeast mixture; mix until dough just comes together. Add eggs and yolk; mix until just combined, 2 to 3 minutes (do not overmix).
• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, making sure to include any loose bits left at bottom of bowl. Gently knead to form a smooth ball, about 30 seconds. Wrap tightly in plastic; refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
• In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together remaining 3 1/2 sticks butter and 2 tablespoons flour. Shape mixture into a 12-by-10-inch rectangle on a piece of plastic wrap. Refrigerate 15 minutes or up to 1 day. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to an 18-by-10-inch rectangle, a little over 1/4 inch thick, keeping the corners as square as possible. Remove any excess flour with a dry pastry brush. Remove butter mixture from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature until it is the same consistency as the dough. With a short side facing you, place butter mixture over two-thirds of the dough. Fold the unbuttered third over as you would a business letter, followed by the remaining third. This seals in the butter.
• Roll out dough again to an 18-by-10-inch rectangle, then fold into thirds as described above; refrigerate 1 hour. This completes the first of three turns. Repeat rolling and folding process two more times, refrigerating at least 1 hour between turns. To help you remember how many turns have been completed, mark the dough after each one: make one mark for the first turn, two for the second, and three for the third.
• Wrap tightly in plastic and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to overnight. Dough can also be frozen, tightly wrapped in plastic, up to 2 weeks (thaw in refrigerator overnight before using).
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to a 20-by-16-inch rectangle, trimming edges if necessary. Using a ruler, cut into twenty 4-inch squares and transfer to one of three parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving an even amount of space between squares until you have two sheets with 7 squares each, and one sheet with 6 squares.
• Working with one square at a time, fold in half to form a triangle. Using a sharp pizza wheel, make a cut parallel to one of the short sides of the triangle, about 1/4 inch from the edge, stopping about 1/8 inch from the opposite short side. Make a second cut parallel to the opposite short side, about 1/4 inch from the edge, stopping about 1/8 inch from the first line. (Make sure lines do not meet.) Unfold triangle back into a square and brush egg wash along edges. Fold outer cut corners over to opposite inside corners. Press borders down to seal. Repeat with remaining squares. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
• Filling: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fill center of each square with 1 tablespoon jam, then lightly brush dough with egg wash. Bake, rotating sheets from top to bottom halfway through, until deep golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool completely. Pastries are best served the same day.

BREAD CUP MUSHROOM CROUSTADES

Steps:

• Bread Cup: Preheat oven to 400°F Cut a 2-3 inch round from each bread slice. Gently fit bread rounds into each mold of a mini-mufin pan to form a cup. Bake 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and set aside.
• Filling: In a heavy skillet, saute shallots in butter for 1 minute. Stir in mushrooms and simmer, uncovered until all liquid has evaporated; about 10 minutes.
• Remove from heat and stir flour into mushrooms. Pour cream over and return to heat.
• Stirring constantly, bring to boil and cook another minute or so while mixture becomes very thick. Remove from heat and stir in remaining ingredients.
• Let cool, then cover and refrigerate until cool.
• Bake: Preheat oven to 350°F Fill cups with mixture and sprinkle with minced parsley and parmesan cheese of desired. Bake 10 minutes on ungreased baking sheet.
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• NOTE: Appetizers can be made in advance and then frozen for future use. Follow the Bread cup and Filling directions above. Freeze the filled cups in the mini-muffin pan. Once frozen, you can place them in plastic bags for easier storage. When you remove them from the freezer, allow to thaw completely before baking them.

PEAR CROUSTADE

Steps:

• For crust
• Mix flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter. Using on/off turns, process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer to large bowl. Mix egg yolk and 1 1/2 tablespoons ice water in small bowl. Using fork, blend enough yolk mixture, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, into flour mixture to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic. Chill until firm, about 1 hour. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Keep refrigerated. Let soften slightly before rolling out.)
• Position rack in center of oven and preheat to °F. Roll out dough on floured parchment paper to 10-inch round. Transfer dough on parchment paper to large baking sheet.
• For filling
• Toss pears, sugar, flour, lemon juice and allspice in large bowl. Overlap pear slices atop dough, leaving 2-inch border. Fold dough border over fruit, pleating loosely and pinching to seal any cracks. Brush dough with egg white. Drizzle cream over filling.
• For topping
• Mix flour and sugar in small bowl. Rub in butter with fingertips until mixture forms small clumps. Sprinkle topping over filling.
• Bake tart until crust is golden and filling bubbles, about 40 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to rack; cool slightly, about 15 minutes. Slide metal spatula under crust to free from parchment. Using large tart pan bottom as aid, transfer tart to platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.