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I'm headed to an appetizer party tomorrow and signed up for a dessert-y finger food. My mind is 100% on ice cream at the moment and I'd rather not show up with traditional cake or pie. Any ideas on sugary finger foods that will impress without making a mess?

Yesterday was Julia Child's birthday. Lisa from Champaign Taste asked food bloggers to post their own tributes for Julie Child.

Here's a link to her round-up:
http://champaign-taste.blogspot.com/2006/08/first-annual-julia-child-birthday.html

Oooops, sorry typo. I meant Julia of course.

something in the finger food category that came to mind that fits the simple and sugary requirements is something my grandmother used to make and it may sound unusual but it always made a hit.
You take a pitted prune, stuff it with peanut butter and insert I believe it was a walnut half. You then take the prune and roll it in granulated sugar and voila you have a sweet finger food

how about small squares or triangles of baklava? i know that it can be a bit sticky but oh so good!!

or chocolate dipped strawberries?

How about figs?

Last Saturday, I stuffed some with a little morsel of blue cheese and popped them under the broiler for a few minutes.

We ate them standing in the kitchen while we waited for the next course to finish baking. Soft and sweet sans napkins.

Kate,
Little filled tarts make great finger food. Some fruit with some jam (I like strawberries in apricot jam or orange marmelade), artfully dusted with icing sugar, will be dead easy, but look impressive.

And what's cooking chez moi? Made a small batch of salsa with farmer's market tomatoes and peppers and canned (jarred) them. Now I just have to wait for it to ripen before cracking one open and testing the recipe.

Oh, such good ideas. For some reason I was stuck on chocolate when what I really should be pursuing is fruit (duh!). I'm going to swing by the farmers market tomorrow morning and see what I can pick up in the way of berries. Thanks!

And if you do decide to go with chocolate as well, Chocolate & Zucchini's chocolate bites are both easy and amazing - I speak from experience. If you make them in mini tart or muffin cups the recipe makes at least 6 dozen, and they have a moist, almost flourless consistency, unlike regular chocolate cupcakes which are often dry.

I like them with a dab of soft whipped cream and a garnish of orange zest or a raspberry.

Her recipe here calls for chipotle powder, which is very good, but I've also used just vanilla, or peppermint oil instead. http://chocolateandzucchini.com/archives/2005/10/chocolate_chili_bites.php

dessert-y finger food = homemade marshmallows. google "strawberry marshmallows" for recipes. no turning on the oven

what's cooking:
-leek and potato soup
-nectarine, peach & blueberry pie (needed more sugar)
-almost vegetarian chili (froze tofu to change its texture, chopped & added it to the chili)
-gazpacho

Leeds, what happens when you freeze tofu? Does it make it crumbly--more like seitan? I've been intermittently (ie NOT in the summer!) working on a veggie chili recipe for a vegetarian friend who doesn't like seitan or any of the other, more-typical meat substitutes that spring to mind. I didn't even consider tofu because I thought it'd just be too liquidy and get lost in the soup. I want something that holds up more, ya know?

freezing tofu does wonderous things to it EmmaC!
water expands as it freezes so all those wee bitty holes in the tofu full of water get expanded and opened up
when you thaw it the water runs out more easily and you're basically left with little sponges of love
it's kinda magical... (oh and it toughens up the texture a bit too, so that its a bit more 'meaty' in texture)
when i was a vege it was the ONLY way i would eat tofu!

what's cookin' chez granny cart?
we made awesome pork skewers marinated in ginger ale, ginger, garlic and jerk spices and then grilled them on the sidewalk in front of our apartment

totally ghetto fab, and totally delicious!

EmmaC,
I totally know what you mean; and I don't like seitan much either. (Thanks Ann for the explanation, didn't know the reasons for the texture change') But the result is: freezing tofu makes it more firm, gives it a nice texture. You can grate it or chop it into matchsticks (which is what I did). If you wanted to 'hide' it, you could grate or cut some chunks of cheddar cheese in similar shape as you've cut your tofu, incorporate it into the chili, then the tofu would not be very noticeable at all. Try it, it's very good!
This was my first attempt, so I put in quarter lb of lean ground beef and almost 2 cups of the chopped tofu. All tofu's gonna be great too.
I put in chopped carrot, celery, onion, garlic, black and red beans, spices...umm, lunch!

Wow! My Tofu World opens! I have a hankering to feign illness, leave work early, and go watch tofu freeze. *cough cough* *sniffle*

In other news, I made BBQ Bacon Pizza last night and it was so faboo that I think I'll make it again tonight! Two tablespoons of BBQ sauce mixed in the tomato sauce, crumbled bacon, caramelized onions, arugula, and some monteray jack cheese. Good times. Good times.

Hi, I've been lurking here for a while, and now I have a question for the more experienced chef's out there: If you could buy either a blender or a food processor or a stand mixer, which would you get? I got $300 for my birthday and I'd like to augment my kitchen with it. Over the year's I've assembled a fairly complete kitchen, but I've been reluctant to purchase major appliances, because I can't figure out which ones I'd actually use. The only thing I can't make in my current kitchen is a smooth puree (I do have a potato masher and a mortar and pestle).

I figure $300 will get me one of the following options:

1. Food processor

2. Stand Mixer

3. Immersion blender and a proper saucier

What should I get? I was leaning towards the stand mixer because I bake bread about 2x a month and imagine that I would bake more if I didn't need to knead, on the other hand, everyone else seems totally enamored of their food processors, so I wonder what I'm missing.

ps - this week I've baked the mushroom lasagna from the latest issue of cook's illustrated, substituting a mix of squash, eggplant and criminis for the portabellas and been experimenting with a "Two-berry Czech tart" for a farmers market competition.

Anna,
I have to say that if I had to choose, I certainly use my food processor much more than the other items. Bread crumbs, pesto, pie dough (if I'm lazy) soups and purees of all sorts. But then, I don't bake bread, so that's a consideration. I have a kitchen aid food processor and I've been very happy with it. Immersion blenders are great and I wish I had one, but I think the food processor is the most versatile of the three.

i'd say it depends on the size of your kitchen
mine is TEENY
i have a cuisinart but i never pull it out b/c its:
a. heavy
and
b. big (thus taking up all my counterspace and being just the elephant in the room)
i find that i use my immersion blender for nearly everything b/c it has a cuisinart style attachment that is just perfect for making sauces/chopping stuff for the two of us (me & my sweetie)

conversely, i do not bake
if i did i would probably use the cuisianrt more
i'd start with the immersion blender and the saucier and see how they work for you

Anna of SantaCruz -

The good news is that a hand blender costs about $35. Braun has a version with other attachments including a foodprocessing bowl.

So, what are you going to do with the other $265?

I'd get what you'd use the most - based on your pre-established cooking habits.

anna,

i went for the kitchen aid artisan standing mixer because i bake a lot (at bed bath & beyond with the coupon & another promotion, it came in at just around $200). i love the dough hook. and it's red which makes me happy.

that being said, i do have a mini cusinart that holds about a cup for things like bread crumbs as well an immersion blender for pureeing things on the stove. just a warning though: don't puree mashed potatoes in a cuisinart because the way the blades slice through the starch molecules, you will just end up with glue.

I made a mole rubbed pork loin last night with corn on the cob with "spread" (lime, butter, mexican style cheese, cayenne, salt, cilantro) and a tomato salad. The tomatoes were from our garden and were great. Tonight I'm going to make that into pork mole soft tacos with great corn tortillas. And maybe a corn salad? What's everyone's favorite corn salad? I want something not too salad-y.

I'm about to go pick up my CSA share and maybe then I'll have an idea of side dishes. That's tonight.

On the question of stand mixer et.al. I'm with abby - a stand mixer is what I'd go for, personally. I bake bread a lot, too, and I have been making rustic doughs lately that are just killer to work by hand. My sore arms are longing for a dough hook! (Or maybe I just need to hit the gym more...)

I also have a 4-cup food processor from KitchenAid that cost about $40 and has been great. It chops most everything I need it to - in batches, if necessary.

Corn, Quinoa and Blueberry salad:

Corn - Blueberry Quinoa Salad
1cup corn kernels, fresh or thawed frozen
1 teaspoon extra - virgin olive oil
1/4 chopped red onion
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 tablespoon finely chopped green onion
3 tablespoon chopped cilantro or 1 teaspoon dried
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoon vegetable oil, such as canola, safflower or sunflower
1/2 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed and drained

1. Steam the corn over boiling water a minute or two to bring out its color.

2. In a pan, heat the olive oil and lightly sauté the onion.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the quinoa, sautéed onion, corn, green onion, and cilantro.

4. Whisk together the lemon juice and oil in a small bowl: pour over the quinoa-corn mixture and toss well. Chill until ready to serve. Just before serving, add the blueberries and toss again

Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

I am mighty intrigued by the idea of a stick blender - I hadn't realized that they were so affordable. So the first order of buisness is to get one and see what it does. I realized this morning that a food processor is something I think I _ought_ to get, while the notion of a stand mixer fills my heart with joy and my loins with lust...er...well, not really, but you know what I mean. I might have to break my rules and get a mixer too.

I was just whining about the fact that my old stick blender was busted the other night. I was making a semi-homemade tomato sauce to throw over some tortellini pasta (it was 'clean out the pantry' night) and I really wanted a stick blender to puree the sauce a bit. Sadly, my old boat propellor was broken. So, instead, I had to let the sauce cool a bit and then ladle a cup or two of the sauce into my blender. So much work when a little gadget could have saved the day!