Countdown to Christmas: Make-ahead appetizers

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Julie Wells/Gwinnett Daily Post

Here is a list of recipes that are tried and true, they’ve stood the test of time and people never seem to tire of them!

Most recipes are on the boxes of ingredients listed, if not, the recipe will be furnished.

 

Sausage/Cheese Balls (recipe on Bisquick Box)

Most of us have had these little savory favorites. To make ahead, just follow the recipe on the box, but don’t cook. Instead, roll out balls as directed, then line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Put sausage balls on sheet and place in freezer overnight. When completely frozen, place sausage balls in a Ziploc container until ready to use. Tip: these are much easier to remove if you use parchment paper rather than foil, which sometimes sticks to finished sausage balls.

 

Rolo Pretzel Treats

So simple and so good!

Ingredients:

  • 24 Rolo chocolate candies, not the minis
  • 24 small pretzels
  • 24 pecan halves

Heat oven to 250 degrees.

Place pretzels on parchment paper-covered cookie sheet. Top each one with a Rolo candy. Heat in oven for about 3 to 5 minutes, or until Rolos are soft, but not entirely melted. Remove from oven and gently push a pecan half into candy. Allow to cool. You won’t believe how easy this is!

 

Reindeer Mix

Place as much Rice Chex cereal as you think you will need in a Ziploc bag. Add peanuts, raisins, M&Ms and powdered sugar to taste. Shake bag to incorporate sugar with other ingredients. You can place these in a little cellophane bags for Rudolf and the other reindeer, and leave them under the tree with Santa’s milk and cookies.

 

Christmas Lime Punch

  • One 2-liter Sprite, frozen to slushy stage
  • One can of pineapple, frozen to slushy stage
  • One 2-liter ginger ale, frozen to the slushy stage
  • Half a gallon of lime sherbet, thawed until soft

Put everything in a large punch bowl and enjoy!

Tip: if you let the drinks freeze too hard they will be too hard to empty. If this is the case, just take a sharp knife and carefully cut away the bottom portion of the bottle. Be careful with the knife!

 

Candy Bacon

I have to tell you, the first time we made the following appetizer, our daughter’s boyfriend asked if he could take some to his dad for Christmas. Since then, we have to have this every Christmas morning.

  • 12 slices bacon, about 1/4-inch thick
  • Finely ground black pepper
  • 1/3 cup light brown sugar
     

Equipment: Two baking sheets, preferably the same size
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

Put bacon slices in a bowl, season them with pepper and toss with the brown sugar. Cover a baking sheet with parchment or foil and arrange the bacon in a single layer on top. Sprinkle any sugar left in the bowl over the bacon. Top with another layer of parchment or foil and top it, squarely, with another baking sheet. The baking sheet will flatten the bacon as it cooks.

Place the tray in the center of the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Check the bacon by lifting the top tray and parchment. If it is not golden brown and fairly crispy, resist the temptation to turn up the oven temperature, and cook it for 10 to 15 minutes longer. Check it again. Keep in mind that when you remove the tray and transfer the bacon to a serving platter or individual plates, the bacon will "crisp" up a little more. You should probably double this recipe!

 

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Image credit: Julie Wells/Gwinnett Daily Post