Corned Beef Puff Pastry and Kiss Me I'm Irish Cookies

Cook's notes: Add a wee bit of Irish to your cooking with these March recipes.  

Corned Beef Puff Pastry 

Cook's notes: The filling is enough for 12 puffs so you will need 1 pastry sheet plus half of another sheet. The puff pastries can be served as an appetizer or as a side with soup. Ham could be substituted for corned beef. 

recipe inspired by pamperedchef.com
Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 puff pastry sheets 
• 6 oz. deli corned beef chopped
• 3 TB. green onion
• 1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 3 TB. mayonnaise or Miracle Whip 
• 3 TB.pickle relish, drained 
• 1 TB.Dijon mustard
• 1 egg and 1 tsp. water
• sesame seeds
• optional 1/3 cup drained sauerkraut 

Directions:

• With a pastry wheel cut one sheet into 9 equal squares and 3 squares from another sheet.
• Use a food processor to combine filling ingredients.
• Add 1-1/2 TB filling into each pastry square. Fold pastry over filling by bringing up corners diagonally. Press corners together to meet in center.

• Preheat over to 400 degrees. Beat egg with water in a small bowl. Brush pastry with egg wash (this will give the pastry a nice sheen). Sprinkle with sesame seeds. 

• Place in medium sized muffin pans. Bake until pastry is golden brown and puffed, about 14 minutes. Note: I did not have a medium sized pan (wish I did) and had to use a large muffin pan that really was too big for this recipe. 
• Let pastry puffs cool in pan for 5 minutes. Run a sharp paring knife around pan edges to loosen; turn out puffs onto rack to cool slightly before serving.

Kiss Me I'm Irish Cookies

Cook's notes: Sugar cookie rolled in green sugar and topped with a Hershey’s Kiss. Perfect for St. Patrick’s Day. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

recipe from http://cookinfood.com/
Ingredients:

• ½ cup butter
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 large egg
• 6-8 drops green food coloring
• 1 ¼ cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 bottle green decorating sugar (you’ll need about ¼ cup)
• 24 Hershey’s Kisses (unwrapped)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350° degrees.
• Cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Continue to mix and add in the vanilla and egg. Mix until thoroughly combined. 
• Add 2 drops at a time (food coloring) to give dough a nice light green color. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and make sure all of the color and ingredients are well incorporated.
• Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt. Refrigerate dough for approx. 30 minutes.
• Refrigerated dough makes it easier to roll. Scoop out about 1” size dough balls. Roll the cookie balls in the green sugar on a plate, and then place on the cookie sheet 2” apart.
• Bake the cookies at 350 for 9-10 minutes. As soon as you pull them out of the oven sink an unwrapped Hershey Kiss into the center of each cookie. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.