Pesto and Mozzarella Bites

Today should be a ‘Lunchbox Bakes’ post, but, due to the time of year and the amount of socializing that goes hand in hand with that I’m bringing you a savoury recipe that’s better suited to being served at your next function as opposed to going into a lunchbox. I made these bite sized delights to take as pre-dinner finger food to a BBQ a few weeks ago. They are awesome and so easy! The idea came via Pinterest courtesy of my friend Anastasia who always seem to find the coolest things to pin. I think they would be a great addition to any BBQ or Christmas menu this summer season.

Ingredients:
1 sheet puff pastry (thawed)
4-5 small balls fresh mozzarella
pesto (I used a chunky cashew and basil pesto)
40-48 toothpicks

Method:
Pre-heat your oven to 180ºC and line a baking tray with wax paper.
Squeeze any excess moisture from the mozzarella and tear into small pieces, so you have 20-24 pieces in total.
Roll out your pastry and use a small round cookie cutter (mine was 4cm in diameter but it needed to be a little bigger to accommodate the filling so I found myself rolling each of my disks to make them a little bigger – I’d suggest you use a 5-6cm round cutter if you have one) to cut out as many rounds as possible, one sheet of puff pastry will probably give you 20-24.
In the centre of each piece of pastry place a teaspoon of pesto and a piece of mozzarella.
Pull the sides together and use the toothpicks to hold it together.
Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is puffed up and golden.
These are best served warm.

Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough Truffles

These truffles accompanied the more traditional cookie dough truffles to the American themed pot luck dinner we went to the other week. Mel stumbled across the idea here, and passed it on to me to adapt when she heard about the dinner. They look good huh?! Well, it gets better, they are hiding something from you… every truffle has a rolo in the middle, deliciously wicked!

Ingredients:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon salt
100 grams butter, softened
⅔ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
3 tablespoons cream
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
24 Rolo chocolates
3 tablespoons sugar
¾ teaspoon cinnamon

Method:
In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, ½ teaspoon cinnamon and salt, set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together butter, brown sugar and ¼ cup sugar until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Mix in cream and vanilla extract.
Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.
In a separate small mixing bowl, whisk together second measures of sugar and cinnamon.
Scoop dough out one even tablespoon at a time, then press one Rolo  into the centre of each scoop of dough and roll into a ball.
Roll each dough ball into cinnamon sugar mixture. Chill or serve immediately.
Store Cookie Dough Bites in refrigerator. 

If you like these and haven’t tried the biscuits I suggest you give them a go or make this blondie – snickerdoodle style!