Appetizers......I could just eat them alone, skip the main!

The Holiday season is upon us as the cold weather sets in.    Thanksgiving starts us off with a belly full of turkey, potatoes, stuffing and graaaaaavy....and it almost feels like training.    Training the stomach to get ready for Christmas and the Holidays, where we drag our loved ones around town to visit families and friends and eat like it's going out of style.     If you're like me, you find it hard to keep your hands away from appetizer plates, snacky platters, and bite size tummy teasers.    You keep going at them hard, almost marathon style, and forget that a dinner is just around the corner.    Now you're stuffed to the gunnels, as your Christmas dinner is laid out infront of you.    Can't be rude......bring me a shovel....i'll pack it in.

Here's a nice and easy one......that you can put together, and they will go suuuper fast!!!

Ham, Cheese and Onion Puffs                                     
36 puffs

What you need:
6 1/2 tbsp butter
3/4 cup all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1/3 cup minced ham (I use deli ham....it's easier)
1/3 cup green onion finely chopped
1/3 cup finely shredded marble cheddar cheese
3 eggs beaten

Whatcha gotta do:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F
put 1 cup of water into a pot, with butter, and heat on medium untill butter is melted.   Once melted, crank up the heat untill you get a boil.    Remove from heat as soon as boiling, and add (sifted) flour and salt.     Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon untill a paste forms and pulls away from the edges of the pot.   

If you have a standing mixer, toss the paste ball in and start mixing at medium speed.    If not, you can leave the paste ball in the pot and use an electric hand beater on medium speed.

Once mixing has started, add beaten eggs slowly (you don't want the eggs to cook in the warm paste), untill paste is soft, smooth, shiny and goopy.    Add onions, ham and cheese untill they are fully incorporated.

Throw the mixture into a piping bag with a 1/2" tip.    (I don't have a piping bag, so I use a large ziplock freezer bag.    Once I fill it with the mixture, zip it shut, and cut one corner of the bottom of the bag....squeeze bag untill paste comes out the hole....voila!   Piping bag!)

Pipe the mixture onto a greased (butter) cookie sheet into 1 1/2 " circles, leaving about 2" space between each.   This recipe makes about 36 puffs.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes or untill puffs are well risen and golden brown.  

Serve these suckers warm.....or not.....I like them warm!!

Enjoy!!