Your post made me laugh. I made mini chicken and broccoli quiches for a party last year. People commented on how good my "Costco" frozen appetizers were. They were waaayyyy better than Costco's but you can bet I won't go through the effort again. I'm hanging out with the wrong people.

I'll be interested to see what recipes other people have to offer up.

I make Sheshebop/Sherry's Spinach Brownies in *mini-muffin tins.

Costco? They know you cook right?

APPETIZER-Spinach Brownies
1 pkg. (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
16 oz. cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup chopped onion (I use a whole onion)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1 cup flour
2 eggs, beaten
ý stick butter, melted
1 cup half & half

Preheat oven to 350.
Spray 12 x 8 pan or with cooking spray

Drain spinach in colander and squeeze out moisture

Sauté onions in ý stick butter.

Combine cheese, spinach & onion in a large bowl, mix.

Stir salt & baking powder into flour and mix with spinach mixture.

Mix eggs, butter, and milk and stir into other ingredients.
Pour into pan.

12X8â pan - 30-35 minutes, until just starting to turn lightly brown.

*Mini muffin tins - bake for 18-20 minutes. Makes 42

I'm doing mini mac & cheese bites in them for a family Bunco party tonight. It's a hit with the kids, and the grown ups eat them too.
You could line the bottom with any kind of dough/bread, etc, then fill with any of your favorite dips - spinach artichoke, etc. and bake.

A friend put wonton wrappers into the small tins, filled them with chicken salad, sprinkled with cheese and baked them. They were quite good and evidently not sold at Costco.

Right off the top of my head, I can think of a recipe other than appetizers - One-Bite Butter Biscuits. I'll give it some though and post other ideas later.

One-Bite Butter Biscuits

4 1/2 cups self-rising flour
3 to 4 TB sugar
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
2 to 4 TB sour cream
2 cups light cream

glaze:
1 cup sugar
2 t. cinnamon
1 stick melted butter

Preheat oven to 425 F. Mix flour and sugar in a large bowl or food processor bowl. Cut in butter, or pulse until coarse in food processor. Add sour cream and mix in well.
Stir in cream and mix to a soft dough. Spray mini-muffin pans with PAM. Pinch off walnut-sized pieces of dough and roll with floured hands to a ball. Put in greased muffin cups.
Bake about 13 minutes. While still warm, brush with melted butter all over each biscuit, then roll in the sugar/cinnamon mixture. Serve warm or room temp.

Makes about 48 biscuits.

I also use my 24 cup mini muffin tin to make Butter Tarts and Pecan Tassies when I want mini desserts.

Here is a link to mini tart and muffin appetizer/dessert on Food.com

Here is a link that might be useful: Food.com link

Another link:

Here is a link that might be useful: more ideas from RecipeLion.com

Making these for a Chamber business award party in a couple of weeks...

* Exported from MasterCook *

Caramelized Onion Mini Quiches

Recipe By :Katie, 2003
Serving Size : 48 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Appetizers

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
Dough:
2 cups flour
8 ounces cream cheese -- softened
3/4 cup butter
Filling:
2 large onions -- chopped
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 eggs -- beaten
1 cup milk or cream
1 cup shredded Swiss cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

For dough: Cream butter and cream cheese. Mix in flour until smooth. Press into mini muffin pan cups.

For filling: Cook onions, 1 tbsp. butter and 1 tbsp. olive oil on low until brown and caramelized - 30-45 minutes. Cool.

Mix cooled onions and Swiss cheese and divide between muffin cups.

Mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper and pour over cheese mixture.

Bake at 400F for 12-15 minutes, until puffed and golden.

Serve warm, chilled, or at room temperature.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 70 Calories; 5g Fat (67.4% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 22mg Cholesterol; 60mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Vegetable; 1 Fat.

NOTES : These freeze very well.

Wow, there are some great ideas here! Thanks so much. I want to start collecting them now, so the next time I need something to serve, I'll have the recipes at the ready.

Thanks!

I did find a couple on my own too, including this one.

Here is a link that might be useful: portobello brie cups

Annie, I know you asked for appetizers. I hope you won't mind if I share a recipe that is great for a "sweet" at a cocktail party. It came from Southern Living magazine about a hundred years ago.

Little Bits

butter
graham cracker crumbs
3 eggs, separated
3/4 cup sugar
2 (8 oz) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
Sour Cream Filling (below)

Butter 1 1/2 inch muffin tins, and coat generously with graham cracker crumbs; set aside.
Cream egg yolks, sugar, and cream cheese until fluffy. Beat egg whites until stiff; fold into creamed mixture.
Spoon cream cheese mixture into muffin tins, filling three-fourths full. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool 10 to 15 minutes (centers will fall, forming an indentation). Carefully remove from muffin tins; spoon 1 teaspoon Sour Cream Filling into each indentation. Store in refrigerator.

Yield: 4 dozen

Sour Cream Filling

1 (8 oz.) carton commercial sour cream
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a 9-inch pieplate; stir well. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Stir well, and bake an additional 3 minutes. Yield: 1 cup (enough for above-recipe).

These are not good unless well-chilled (make ahead!).

Thanks bbstx, sweets are never a problem recipe wise...though always a problem diet wise!

I found another recipe that sounded pretty good.

Do you suppose I could just take a regular muffin tin appetizer recipe and put it in the mini muffin tin and bake for less time?

Here is a link that might be useful: tomato bacon cups

Annie, those tomato bacon cups look great. I might use pie crust (premade, even) in lieu of the buttermilk biscuits. I'm not a fan of canned biscuits. And I think when the biscuits rise, they will take up too much space in a mini muffin cup.

Thinking "out loud" here, wonder if you could crush Ritz crackers or something similar, and pat them into the mini cups for a crust. I think if you did, the filling would have to be something with some inherent structure - something that sets up in the shape of the cup and stays that way. Something that doesn't depend on the crust to contain it.

One thing I keep on hand for quick canapes is mini phyllo cups. They are in the frozen food case at my local grocery, but I noticed the last package I bought said, "may be stored frozen, refrigerated, or at room temperature." What else is there?

Slip phyllo cup into each cup of your mini muffin tin. Fill with a small amount of cheese (I prefer brie or blue cheese). Run into a 350 degree oven until the cheese melts - about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and top with a dab of jam. I like strawberry or fig on the blue cheese. On the brie, I like fig or pepper jelly. Best when they are warm, but folks will continue to eat them when they have cooled to room temp.

When I went looking for a link to the phyllo cups I use, I found they had a bunch of recipes online. You might be able to adapt some of these, if you didn't want to use phyllo cups. Link below.

Let us know what you try and how it turns out! I might get more mileage out of my mini-muffin tins.

Here is a link that might be useful: Phyllo cup recipes

Thanks, bbstx! Cheese and jam sound like a great combo.

My DHL brought these a couple of Thanksgiving ago. Quite good and easy peasy.

Line mini muffin tins with prosciutto. Bake at 350 just until slightly crisp.

Fill with diced apples that have been mixed with a tiny bit of apple sauce (to prevent discolouration ) or diced pears with a bit of blue cheese. Don't fill to early or the prosciutto will get a tad chewy

I'm sure the little prosciutto cups could be used for no end of other fillings.

Hadn't thought of prosciutto...sounds good.

Bbstx is right about the bacon tomato cups. The biscuits puff up too much but they are yummy!!! The next time I make them I would probably try rolling out puff pastry. I originally found this recipe at pampered chef. They also have a very handy tool called a mini tart press (I think). It is a real timesaver. I highly recommend it, it cost about $5-6.00 from P Chef.

1 cup chopped cooked chicken
1 cup mayonnaise
1 cup grated cheese, ie. Havaarti, Monterey jack
1/2 cup toasted , chopped almonds, (I use hickory smoked)
2 tsp. curry powder
2 tsp. lemon juice

Fill mini tart pans lined with pastry. Bake @ 375 for about 15 minutes. Can be frozen. Reheat from frozen. Serve hot.

Sounds good, louise!

Of course now I've found some other recipes...I had them book marked on my other machine! Doh!

See my other thread on my recipe morass. Is it any wonder I can't find anything?!?