Making dessert tray...help please

[Dina]

I have been asked to make a dessert tray for the New Year's party. I have 2-8 oz cream cheeses, sugar, flour, eggs, butter, semi-sweet and bitter sweet chocolate chips, pumpkin puree, dessert spices, vanilla extract, almond extract, coconut extract, sweetened shredded coconut, some Granny Smith apples and oranges laying around and perhaps a couple of frozen pie shells. I'd like to make various desserts for 20 people. Suggestions?

 

[Alix]

OK Dina, what about making a bunch of tarts? Use your frozen pastry and cut out circles with a glass (or round cookie cutter if you have one) and put them in muffin tins. Then make various fillings for them. Mix up some cheesecake batter and make that too. You can make a chunky applesauce and use that for mini apple tarts. Pumpkin tarts too. Do you have any condensed milk? You can make mini "sex in a pan" with the pastry bottom, mix the coconut with the chocolate chips and drizzle the condensed milk on that. MMMMMMM. You could easily have 3-4 dozen tarts in no time. That would be a lovely dessert idea.

OK, and if tarts just don't strike your fancy, make a quick apple pie and then make some dessert bars with the rest of your stuff.

 

[kadesma]

Dina, Alix has a good idea wow...I just made several crostata for Christmas and one was filled with chocolate, then topped with whipped cream and nuts when cooled..The other was filled with a favorite jam, topped with powdered sugar and toasted sliced almonds...When cut I had 6 slices but it could be shaped square and cut into more pieces...served warm or at room temp they are so good...
kadesma

 

[*amy*]

...I'd like to make various desserts for 20 people. Suggestions?

You may need more ingredients. I would think mini desserts i.e. mini pecan & pumpkin pies, mini cheesecakes (top w pie filling - cherry blueberry etc.), brownies, rugalach, bar cookies, chocolate dipped strawberries, thumb print cookies, truffles, petite fours, etc. similar to:

Mini Desserts

There is a large pumpkin cake I've had my eye on. Perhaps you can make the cake & cut it into small portions:

Luscious Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake
RecipeDetail

(The caramel topping reminded me of a pumpkin roll Paula made recently.)

Pumpkin Tirrmisu (T&T)
Super-Simple Pumpkin Tiramisu Recipe at Epicurious.com

Cheesecake cookie cups (Use any fuit pie filling of choice -- cherry, blueberry, lemon etc)

Cheesecake Cookie Cups (T&T)

Blueberry & Custard Filled Stars (T&T)
BLUEBERRY & CUSTARD FILLED STAR PUFFS

Posted a recipe for puffy stars in one of the threads for unusual or easy Holiday cookies...

TNT - Cut star shapes out of puff pastry, bake, let cool & dip in melted white or dark chocolate. If I recall, I posted a recipe for easy rugelach. Try a search here.

There's also a brownie recipe covered with ganache on the Hershey's site.

 

[Marko]

How about a pumpkin cheesecake cut into wedges? Add to that an apple crisp for a warm dessert option too. Then, as mentioned, you could flesh it out with some bars or cookies??

Here's my pumpkin pie recipe. It's easy!

Pumpkin Praline Cheesecake

Crust:1/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
6 Tbsp melted butter

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine all ingredients. Press firmly into the bottom of a 10" spring form pan.
• Bake for 10 minutes and cool thoroughly.

Filling:

1 1/2 lbs cream cheese
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
2 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp corn starch
1 Tbsp bourbon

• Beat cream cheese, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add eggs one at a time and whip until thoroughly incorporated.
• Beat in pumpkin, spices, milk, bourbon and corn starch until smooth.
• Pour over crust in spring form pan.
• Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes or until set.

Topping:

2 cups sour cream
1 Tbsp white granulated sugar
1 Tbsp bourbon

• Combine and pour over top of cooled cheese cake.

 

[jpmcgrew]

If you have heavy cream you could make truffles or a ganach tart or mini tarts

 

[Dina]

Wonderful ideas! Thanks you all. I'm going with the mini tarts so everyone has a variation of flavors. Now I've been asked to make an Italian appetizer dish too. I'm going with Italian mini quiche and some sort of chichen/sun dried tomato tortilla rolls. I'm still brainstorming on how to make these Italian enough to go with the theme. Suggestions?

 

[jpmcgrew]

Bruschetta and or Antipasto.