Potato Cake Grilled Cheese Nibbles #FoodieExtravaganza

These easy appetizers are perfect for cocktail time and plenty filling for your tapas party. Made with extra sharp cheddar and herby mashed potatoes, potato cake grilled cheese nibbles go down a treat.

Since 2016, the third Thursday in June has been designated World Tapas Day, a holiday I can completely get behind. After all, who doesn’t love little tasty nibbles? A snack is a snack but when you call it tapas, you are pretty much required to have a drink as well, which pushes us right into party territory.

If you agree, you might also like to check out some of my other tapas recipes. I'm particularly partial to my Garlicky Artichokes which are divine heaped on crusty bread, Spicy Squid with Bacon which also has a good hit of garlic, and the sweet and salty combination of these Chorizo Date Skewers topped with crumbled blue cheese. So good! I tasted that last one in a restaurant in Atlanta and could not wait to get home to make them again myself.

Potato Cake Grilled Cheese Nibbles

These fun little “sandwiches” can be made with your favorite herbs to flavor the potatoes but using green onion tops makes them taste like my favorite baked potatoes. In fact, sometimes I add crispy bacon to the mix. Everything’s better with bacon.

Ingredients
1 3/4 lbs or 790g waxy potatoes
Fine sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper
1 medium egg, lightly whisked
Herbs of your choice
3 oz or 85g extra sharp cheddar – or your favorite flavorful melty cheese

Method
Peel the potatoes and cut into them chunks. Boil them until just fork tender, then drain and leave to air dry in the hot pot for a few minutes, lid removed.

Mash the potatoes with a potato masher until smooth. Set aside to cool to room temperature. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Now mix in the egg and the chopped herbs until both are completely incorporated.

Use a scoop or a tablespoon to divide the potatoes into about 26 pieces. I used a 2-tablespoon cookie dough scoop and got 27.

Cover the potato balls with cling film and chill them for a couple of hours.

Wet your hands to avoid the potato sticking to them then form the balls of potato into little cakes. I like to use the edge of a rubber spatula to pat the cakes into square-ish shapes. This is totally unnecessary but I think it made them look more like toast. Which makes the potato cake grilled cheese nibbles look more like tiny sandwiches. Such fun!

Slice your cheese thinly and set aside.

Put a non-stick griddle to heat over a medium flame. If your griddle is on the older side (and not as non-stick as it used to be), you might want to drizzle on a little canola or olive oil. You don’t want the potato cakes to stick.

Put the cakes a few at time on the griddle, making sure to leave enough room to get a spatula in to turn them. Cook on the first side for several minutes or until the bottom is nicely browned.

Carefully turn the potato cakes over and cook the other side till browned.

At this point I take time out from our regularly scheduled, eat-right-now recipe to offer you a party plan version for making ahead.

PARTY PLAN MAKE AHEAD: Cook all the potato cakes and refrigerate until ready to serve. Reheat in a single layer in your oven, preheated to 375°F or 190°C for about 7-10 minutes or until heated through. Top half with the sliced cheese and pop back into the oven until the cheese just starts to melt. Remove from the oven and cover the cheesy potato cakes with a plain one. Serve!

Now back to our make them/eat them recipe:
Add the cheese to half of the potato cakes and put the other half on top to make a sandwich. Since the potato cakes are hot, it will take just a minute or so for the cheese to melt.

Remove them to a platter and add the next batch of potato cakes to the griddle. Repeat process until all the potato cake grilled cheese nibbles are done. Garnish with more chopped herbs.

Enjoy!

This month’s Foodie Extravaganza party is celebrating World Tapas Day. Created by Spain, the home country of tapas, it was first declared to commemorate of their favorite snacks in 2016. It's always the third Thursday so this year get ready to party on June 20th. We are here to help with several delicious recipes. Check out the links below. Many thanks to this month’s host, Juli from Pandemonium Noshery for choosing this excellent theme.

• Patatas Bravas with Tomato Aioli from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Flamenquín from Pandemonium Noshery
• Ensaladilla Rusa from Sneha's Recipe
• Potato Cake Grilled Cheese Nibbles from Food Lust People Love
• Spiced Beef Kabobs from A Day in the Life on the Farm

Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays by posting delicious recipes your family will love. Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook page Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you! If you’re a home cook looking for tasty recipes, check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board!

Pin these Potato Cake Grilled Cheese Nibbles!

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Orange Marmalade Muffins #MuffinMonday

These orange marmalade muffins bake up fluffy and tender. The yogurt and zest add an extra punch to the already flavorful buttery crumb.

Any good cookbook I've ever read always suggests reading the recipe through before starting to cook or bake. Wise advice for sure so I do try to comply. In the case of muffins, I've been baking them so long and so often that I make up my own recipes with ease.

I sit at my computer before heading into the kitchen. For 12 muffins, 2 cups of flour is about right. Are they going to be sweet muffins? Well then, I add some white sugar, brown sugar or honey or even jam (or a combination) to the ingredients list. What will I use to moisten the dry ingredients? Milk, melted butter, oil, yogurt, buttermilk? How many eggs? Usually one will do. Don't forget a leavening agent and salt. Even a sweet muffin needs some salt.

Finally, or sometimes initially, to be honest, what add-ins or flavorings will I use? Fruit in season, chopped candy bars or maybe leftover meat and cheese in the fridge. Any of these might motivate me to create a muffin recipe. This morning my inspiration came from a jar of homemade orange marmalade I bought at a weekend market a couple of years ago. It's been languishing, still sealed, in the cool pantry ever since, slightly darker than when I bought it but just as good.

The one thing I had not considered was a muffin pan. Much to my horror, I realized that I don't have one in the house I'm staying in right now! I was saved when I came across a set of 12 silicone muffin cups tucked into a kitchen drawer. That was close. It's also why my very first instruction for Muffin Monday recipes is to prepare your pan! Better to know before you start if job one is actually to go buy a muffin pan (or silicone cups.)

Orange Marmalade Muffins

Pump up the orange flavor in these muffins by adding a little tangerine or orange zest to your granulated sugar before mixing in the other dry ingredients.

Ingredients
2/3 cup or 132g sugar
Zest 1 small tangerine, minced or finely grated
2 cups or 250g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and cooled
1/2 cup or 120g plain yogurt
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1/4 cup or 60ml good quality marmalade
1 large egg

Optional glaze:  2 tablespoons marmalade, slightly warmed

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin tin by greasing it or lining it with paper muffin cups. Or use silicone cups on a baking pan! These little miracles allow one to bake muffins, even if you actually don't own a muffin pan in your current location.

In a large bowl, rub your sugar with the tangerine zest to release the oils. I use the back of my silicone spoon against the bowl.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the sugar bowl and whisk to combine.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your melted butter, milk, yogurt, egg and marmalade.

Check out the gorgeous color of my butter, there on the left. All natural, from Jersey Dairy, made with the rich cream from Jersey cows. 

Pour your egg/milk mixture into your dry ingredients and fold until just combined.

Divide the muffin batter between the muffin cups.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes. Warm the extra marmalade briefly in the microwave and then brush it onto the muffins to glaze.

Remove the muffins from the pan (or silicone cups) and cool completely on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Check out all of the other lovely muffins my Muffin Monday friends have baked for you today!

• Flo's V8 Cafe Oat Bran Muffins from Simply Inspired Meals
• Morning Glory Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sourdough Tomato and Basil Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Orange Marmalade Muffins from Food Lust People Love

#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.

Pin these Orange Marmalade Muffins! 

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Blossom Tea Honey Buns #BreadBakers

Made with a fragrant tea mix of hibiscus, rose and orange blossoms, paired with ginger and apple, these blossom tea honey buns have a subtle floral note that goes excellently with a hot cup of tea.

Yesterday for Mother’s Day we hosted a backyard cookout. The menu included chicken, sausage and pork ribs, along with two substantial salads, garlic bread and my world-famous lentil burgers for the vegetarian contingent. My lentil burger recipe calls for 1 cup or 210g of uncooked lentils, which usually means buying a box or bag and dealing with leftovers.

Now that I’m back in the States, I am discovering the joys of the self-serve  bulk food department of my neighborhood stores. Not that we didn’t have bulk foods in Dubai, but I wasn’t allowed to help myself. It’s such fun to use the little scoop and measure out just how much I need for a recipe. I was able to buy exactly 210g of French lentils and now I don’t have a box in the cupboard with leftovers that are never enough for another recipe.

Another bonus of the bulk foods is the fabulous mix of teas and infusions available. They all sound and smell wonderful but I especially love the ones with ginger.

Blossom Tea Honey Buns

For these blossom tea honey buns, I used a Tiesta tea that my grocery store called Ginger Sweet Peach, despite the complete lack of peaches in the mix. You can use your favorite fruit infusion to make these buns.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons blossom tea or your favorite mix
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup or 60ml honey
1/4 cup or 50g white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 envelope (1/4 oz or 7g) active dry yeast
2 3/4 cup or 350g bread flour
1 cup or 110g whole grain rolled oats

1 egg, beaten, for brushing on buns before baking
Optional for decoration: honey and extra tea leaves

Method
First, brew your tea by adding 1 1/4 cups of boiling water to the tea mix. Steep for 5 minutes then strain and discard the tea mix. Check out that gorgeous color!

Add in the honey and butter and stir till the honey is dissolved.

Mix white sugar and yeast in a large bowl. When the liquid has cooled to a lukewarm temperature, add it to bowl containing the sugar and yeast. Leave to prove for a few minutes.

When the yeast starts to foam, mix in the flour, oats and salt.

Knead until you have a smooth dough ball. This is a soft dough but don’t be tempted to add more flour. The rolled oats will need that moisture as the dough is kneaded and then rises.

Place the dough ball in an oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Put it in a warm place to rise until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Divide and form the dough into 10 balls and place them on a baking pan lined with baking parchment. Make sure to leave some space for rising. Since our theme is flowers, I made a last minute decision to make a larger bun out of two balls of dough so I could lay them out in a flower shape. So, as you can see in the photos, I only made nine buns out of mine.

Cover the bun pan with a proofing bag or clean garbage bag. Leave to the buns to rise for 30 more minutes.

When dough has almost finished rising, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C. Brush the tops of the buns with beaten egg.

Bake for 17-20 minutes or until tops are golden brown, turning your pan around halfway through so they will brown evenly. Remove the buns from the oven.

Optional: While the buns are still warm, brush them with some honey and sprinkle with a few tea leaves for decoration.

Enjoy!

Many thanks to this month’s Bread Bakers host is Mireille of Schizo Chef. She challenged us to bake with flowers. Check out all the lovely recipes:

• Apricot Orange Danish Pastry from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Basil Flower Mini Bread Rolls from Sneha's Recipe
• Butterfly Pea Flower Buns from Sara's Tasty Buds
• Eggless Gulkand Muffins from Cook with Renu
• Blossom Tea Honey Buns from Food Lust People Love
• Hibiscus Sweet Bread from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Lavender Brown Butter Banana Bread from The Schizo Chef
• Lemon Calendula Scones from Palatable Pastime

Pin these Blossom Tea Honey Buns!

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