Apps and Wine Party Wrap Up

The weekend before Christmas, we hosted an Appetizers and Wine party. It all stemmed after Mr. Tote and I attended a client appreciation event where they served us shrimp cocktail shooters in shot glasses. Now, I've seen this done many times before, but I had put the idea in the back of my mind. Seeing these beauties at the party reminded me that I never did make those darn things. Hence, the reason for the holiday get together. So we had 11 of our friends over, along with three children under the age of 2. We asked everyone to bring a bottle of wine, while we supplied the food goodies. Below is the menu we served...

Roast Beef and Sharp Cheddar Sandwiches
Ham and Aged White Cheddar Sandwiches

Stone Ground Honey Mustard - recipe follows

Creamy Horseradish - recipe follows

Shrimp Cocktail Shooters with a salt and pepper rim - recipe follows

Pesto Pinwheels from Ellie at Vintage Victuals

Buffalo Chicken Dip, aka Chicken Shit

Baked brie with walnuts and apricot preserves inspired from Vintage Victuals

Veggie tray with ranch dip

For desserts we had:

Rocky Road Fudge

Eggnog Thumbprint Cookies from Shelby at The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch

Hershey Pretzel Bites

I added some fun DIY touches to our "counterscape." To avoid having to use regular old plates for serving, I grabbed a few spare tiles and used other items around the house to raise them up. This worked great for the shrimp cocktail shooters because I hid a big bowl of ice in the shadow box frame to keep the shrimp cold.

I also picked up some holiday colored paint swatches from Lowe's and used a white pen to put signs up for all of the food. This really came in handy for when folks were wondering what the heck was wrapped up in dough (the brie with walnuts and apricot preserves).

Mr. Tote was so helpful!

The sandwich platter took a reeeaaaallllly long time to make. I purchased rolls that had to be baked and sliced in half. Then I had to slice the cheese thinly off the blocks I bought. It was really time consuming, but they turned out so cute.
With the sandwiches, I served some stone ground honey mustard and creamy horseradish.

Stone Ground Honey Mustard
1/2 C stone ground mustard
2 Tbsp honey

In a small bowl, microwave the honey for 20-30 seconds, or until thin. Mix in the mustard with a fork until fully incorporated. Refrigerate until serving.

Creamy Horseradish
1/3 C mayonnaise
1/3 C sour cream
1/3 C horseradish

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and refrigerate until serving.

As I mentioned earlier, the inspiration for this party came from some cocktail shrimp shooters I had at a client appreciation party. Their shrimp were served in a tall glass shotglass with WAAAAAY too much cocktail sauce for one little shrimpy. So I headed to Party City to pick up some 1.5 oz. clear plastic shot glasses.

I wet the rims of the cups with a sponge and dipped them into a mixture coarse kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper in a shallow dish. Now I know how bartenders feel when they have to rim margarita and daquiri glasses with sugar or salt.

I made the cocktail sauce with about a cup of ketchup, a third of a cup of horseradish and a tablespoon of lemon juice.

Here are some additional pictures of the food.
The rocky road fuuuuuuuuuuuudge...

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. I feel so blessed that I was able to spend lots of time with my family and friends.