Tasty little bites

I'm getting ready for my party tomorrow and tried out a couple new recipes for it.  Both come from Pampered Chef's Season's Best for spring/summer 2012.  I changed up one of them to make it *slightly* better for you. 

First up is the Bourbon Pecan Tarlets:

Ingredients:

1 cup pecan halves, divided

1/4 cup bourbon (one of the airplane bottles)

1 package (15 ounce) refrigerated pie crusts (two crusts)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 light corn syrup

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 egg

Preheat the oven to 375. Set aside 24 pecans, finely chop the rest of them.  Mix them with the bourbon and let it sit. 

Roll out the pie crust and cut 12 three inch circles from each crust.  Press them into a greased mini muffin pan and try to make the edges pretty (I failed on this part).  

Mix the brown sugar, corn syrup, butter and vanilla in a glass bowl.  Microwave for about a minute, stirring every 15 seconds, or until everything is melted together.  Add the chocolate and stir until melted, then add the egg and pecan/bourbon mixture until it's well combined. 

Fill each of the pie cups with about a tablespoon of the mixture and bake for 11-13 minutes.

Press a half pecan into each one.  Let them cool on a cooling rack.

Next up is a Bacon, Jalapeno, Pepper Pizza Bite (in the book they are called Jalapeno Popper Pizzas, but I like my name better).  I changed up the ingredients a little bit (adding more bacon and leaving off the extra cheese).  I also changed up the directions a little bit.

Ingredients:

1 package refrigerated pizza crust (11 ounce)

8 slices of bacon

1 small red pepper, finely diced

2 jalapeno peppers, finely diced (with or without seeds, depending on how hot you like it)

4 ounces softened cream cheese

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 425. 

Leave the pizza crust rolled up and slice into circle (ish) shapes.  Baked for about 10 minutes.

Put the bacon on a towel lined plate and microwave for about three minutes.  Let it cool a couple minutes, then chop into small pieces.  Put in a pan with the diced peppers and jalapenos, saute for three or four minutes. 

Place the cheddar cheese, cream cheese and bacon/pepper mixture in a bowl, mix until well combined.

Using a tablespoon, press a slight depression into the pizza crust rounds and fill them with a tablespoon of the mixture. 

Bake for another three or four minutes.  Move onto them onto a cooling rack.  Let them cool a little bit before eating them