Pink Piccadilly Pastries Caters a Brunch

Happy Fall! I am so looking forward to cooler weather here in Georgia!! I haven't had much time to enjoy the new season because I have been baking like crazy!! I have catered a brunch for 30 and desserts for a Ladie's Tea for 160! I had forgotten my camera for the brunch so I just have a few photos from that. The menu for the brunch was:  Baby Hot Browns, Chocolate Banana Mini Muffins, Cinnamon Streusel Mini Muffins, Nutella Palmiers, Key Lime Bites, Open Faced Cucumber Sandwiches, a Beautiful Fruit Platter, made by my friend Edith who helped me with the brunch, and a wonderful punch. The first photo is of the pre-baked palmiers....

These are so good and so easy. You just need a container of Nutella and a box of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry Sheets. You thaw the puff pastry, roll out into a rectangle - a couple of inches wider and longer than it already is. Then with a knife you spread a thin layer of Nutella on the rectangle. You roll the long sides toward the middle until they meet. Secure them by wetting a pastry brush with a bit of water and moisten the tops so that they hold together. Next you chill for about 10 minutes in the freezer, because it is much easier to slice if the rolls are chilled. (repeat process with the second pastry sheet). Remove from freezer and slice into 1/2" slices and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. I then sprinkled my slices with demerara sugar.  Bake at 425 degrees for 10-12 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. And, voila........

Yummy! These are great for brunches and afternoon teas, and there are so many variations. You can substitute any flavor of jam/preserves for the Nutella, or just sprinkle the pastry liberally with cinnamon sugar.

I also served Key Lime bites using the pre-made pastry shells from Kroger.

These come in very handy since making your own shells is so time consuming!!

These are so yummy and I don't know anyone that doesn't like them around here!

You take one 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk, 3 egg yolks, 1/2 cup key lime juice. Whisk all ingredients until combined and spoon into pastry shells. Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, cool completely, then chill before serving. For the brunch, I topped mine with a variety of raspberries, blackberries, and grapes.

Next I made my Chocolate Banana Mini Muffins. This is a recipe that I developed in order to use leftover bananas. They are moist and chocolately and are gobbled up the same day they are baked!

Chocolate Banana Mini Muffins

1 3/4 cups plus 2 tbsp AP flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp dutch process cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups semi sweet mini chocolate chips, divided

1 cup (2-3 medium) mashed ripe bananas

2/3 cup canola oil

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease mini muffin pan. (I use baking spray). In a large bowl, blend together flour and the next 4 ingredients. Stir in one cup mini chips. In a medium bowl, beat bananas, oil, egg, and vanilla until smooth. Combine the 2 mixtures, blending just until combined. Spoon batter into muffins cups, filling about 3/4 full. (I use a small cookie scoop, which is faster and your muffins come out even). With 1/2 cup mini chips, sprinkle muffin tops.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until tops spring back when touched. Cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes. Serve warm or cool completely on wire rack.

The second muffin I made was a Cinnamon Streusel mini muffin with streusel topping.

These are really good and moist. This recipe is for regular sized muffins. Just adjust baking times when doing mini muffins.

Cinnamon Streusel  Muffins

3/4 cup softened butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 3/4 cup AP flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

1 cup sour cream

Topping

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

3 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup granulated sugar

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In large bowl, cream butter & sugar with mixer. Blend in vanilla and eggs. In another bowl, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Pour flour mixture and sour cream into butter mixture. Stir batter by hand until ingredients are blended. Grease muffin cups. Prepare topping by mixing together all ingredients. Drop one tbsp batter into each muffin cup. Sprinkle with 1 tsp topping. Top with one more tbsp batter, then sprinkle tops with another tsp of topping. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until tops spring back when touched. Cool on wire rack. Makes one dozen muffins. (2 dozen mini muffins).

The best thing on the menu was the Baby Hot Browns! Please click on link for that recipe. This is a Southern Living recipe that I have used many times. With melted cheese, sliced deli turkey, roma tomatoes and crisp bacon, it is always a favorite! I also made the open faced cucumber sandwiches using my Lemon Cucumber Sandwich Recipe, except that I served them open faced, and I cut them into rounds with a cookie cutter. I topped them with various things which included grape tomato slices, lemon zest, chopped pimiento peppers and alfalfa sprouts. I'm so sad that I don't have a photo for these because they were really beautiful on the platter.  Edith's fruit platter included fresh raspberries, blackberries, fresh pineapple, grapes, star fruit and she drizzled it at the last minute with a honey & lime! Delicious! My punch was equal parts pineapple juice, cranberry juice, orange juice and ginger ale. Really Good!!

I hope you enjoyed this peek at my brunch, and you try some of these lovely recipes. My next post will be photos from the Ladie's Tea. Can't wait to show you! Have a great week!