Snackfest '09

Yesterday being new year's day seemed like as good of an occasion as any to get together with family and eat a bunch of food!

One of my favorite things to start (and end) with is a lovely pineapple cheeseball. I've made this particular one for many a gathering and always get nice comments on it. It was especially lovely after my talented daughter artfully arranged the Ritz crackers around it.

My hubby made his guacamole that everybody but me loves...I'm just not an avocado person. I know I'm wrong for it.

And I put together some yummy bruschetta. It's pretty much just diced tomatoes, chopped basil, a drizzle of olive oil and coarse salt and pepper. This is some of my favorite stuff!

I didn't take a pic but I also made some wonderful buffalo chicken dip. If you haven't tried it, go and get everything you need and do it today. I could just have a bowl of that stuff and a spoon and be a happy girl.

We had this cute football shaped shrimp platter especially with my son in mind. There have been times he could clean off one of those by himself, but he wasn't especially feelin' it today.

To make sure we got a little meat in our diet we had some pineapple chicken skewers and bacon wrapped dates. I'd never had the dates before...I enjoyed the flavor but was not sure about the squishiness level of the dates. Will have to try them again sometime.

To keep our collective blood sugars from dropping we had to have some sweets. I made some s'mores brownies that I found a recipe from Food Network's site. (recipe below) They were pretty darned good but were quite a pain to cut. Also had some cranberry bars that weren't too bad. I liked the oatmeal in them; gave them a nice texture.

Check out the inside of those brownies...super fudgey!

Crust: 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs 2 tablespoons sugar Pinch fine salt

Brownie:

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped 1 cup packed light brown sugar 3/4 cup white sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon fine salt 4 large cold eggs 1 cup all-purpose flour

Topping: 4 cups large marshmallows

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8 by-8-inch square baking pan with foil so it hangs over the edges by about 1 inch. For the crust: Lightly butter the foil with some of the melted butter. Stir the rest of the butter together with the crumbs, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Press the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the brownie. Put the butter and chocolate in a medium microwave safe bowl. Melt in the microwave on 75 percent power for 2 minutes. Stir, and microwave again until completely melted, about 2 minutes more. Alternatively, put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with 1 inch or so of water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl on the pan without touching the water. Stir occasionally until melted. Stir the light brown and white sugars, vanilla and salt into the melted chocolate. Add the eggs and beat vigorously to make a thick and glossy batter. Add the flour and stir until just incorporated.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the top is crispy and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean, with a few crumbs, about 40 to 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and carefully position a rack about 6 inches from the broiler and preheat on low. Layer marshmallows across the top and toast under the broiler until golden, (keep an eye on it, it can go quick), about 2 minutes. Cool on a rack, gently removing the brownies from the pan using the aluminum flaps. Carefully separate any marshmallow from the foil and fold away. Cut into 12 (2-inch) squares.