I have to be honest. On my wedding day, I was such a case that having to create my own appetizers, sweet favors, desserts or cocktails, just might have sent me over the edge. I can’t imagine having to juggle baking times with make-up application or plating appetizers while making sure my hair stayed put, though so many brides do just that!
While I was planning my own wedding, I told my mom that as long as there was good food, good wine and great music, the wedding would be perfect. And if you are on a tight budget, that is a tall task. So for those of you ambitious and very organized brides, here are some drool worthy recipes that will really bring the cost of the food bill down, while maintaining a super chic, sophisticated affair (and if you can get your sister or your cousin to make them for you, even better!)…
From Colin Cowie’s gorgeous site…Mozambican Chicken Wings and upscale Sausage Rolls:
Mozambican Chicken Wings Ingredients
-16 medium-sized chicken wings
-1 cup chili dip (recipe follows)
-1 tablespoon salt
-Vegetable oil for shallow frying Instructions
Put wings in a large stainless steel bowl and salt very well. Pour half a cup of the dip into the bowl and rub into meat with your hands. Leave to marinate for 2 hours. Fry wings in hot oil over medium heat. The wings should be fried on both sides until crispy. When all the wings are cooked, transfer them into a serving dish and pour remaining half cup of chili dip over the wings.
MOZAMBICAN CHILI DIP
4 tablespoons crushed red chilies
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
125 ml vegetable oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 teaspoons salt
Place all the ingredients into a blender and whiz until smooth. The chili dip keeps for months in the fridge.
Click here for the sausage rolls recipe!
From the shear genius that is Martha Stewart…Sugar Cookie Cakes and Champagne Sweets:
Sugar Cookie Cakes
-8 cups sifted all purpose flour
-2 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp salt
-2 cups unsalted butter, softened
-4 cups sugar
-4 eggs
-4 tsp vanilla extract
Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Gradually mix in flour mixture. Divide dough into 4 pieces; flatten each into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour (or overnight).
Preheat oven to 325°, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Let 1 disk of dough stand at room temperature just until soft enough to roll, about 10 minutes. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface to 1/4 inch thick, adding more flour as needed to keep dough from sticking. Using cookie cutters, cut out 2 dozen 3 1/2-inch rounds, 2 dozen 2 3/4-inch rounds, and sixteen 2-inch rounds. Transfer to baking sheets lined with parchment paper as you work, keeping rounds of the same size on the same sheet. Repeat with remaining dough. Chill in freezer until very firm, about 15 minutes.
Bake until edges turn golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks; let cool completely. Transfer icing to a pastry bag fitted with a small plain round tip (such as Ateco #6). Pipe around top edges of each cookie, about 1/4 inch from edge; fill in with a thin layer of icing. Smooth with a small offset spatula. (Reserve about 1/4 cup icing for assembling cookie cakes.) Let set, at least 6 hours (or overnight).
Stack 3 large cookies, securing with dabs of icing in between. Repeat, stacking 3 medium cookies and 2 small cookies on top. Secure a gum-paste flower on top of each cookie cake using a small amount of icing. Repeat with remaining cookies and icing. Let stand until set, at least 30 minutes, before packaging. Click here to get the Royal Icing recipe!
Classic Champagne Cocktail
Makes 1, This recipe can be multiplied easily.
-3 drops bitters
-1 cube sugar
-1 ounce Cognac
-4ounces chilled Champagne
Drop bitters onto sugar cube; let soak in. Place sugar cube in a Champagne flute. Add Cognac, and top with Champagne.
From the Food Network kitchens, these two desserts are throwbacks to backyard weddings filled with family and friends…Mexican Wedding Cookies and Limoncello Cheesecake Squares.
Mexican Wedding Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for coating baked cookies
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting hands
1 cup pecans, chopped into very small pieces
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the bottom of a 9 by 9 by 2-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
Finely grind the biscotti in a food processor. Add the melted butter and 1 tablespoon of lemon zest, and process until the crumbs are moistened. Press the crumb mixture over the bottom (not the sides) of the prepared pan. Bake until the crust is golden, about 15 minutes. Cool the crust completely on a cooling rack.
Blend the ricotta in a clean food processor until smooth. Add the cream cheese and sugar and blend well, stopping the machine occasionally and scraping down the sides of the work bowl. Blend in the limoncello, vanilla, and remaining 2 tablespoons of lemon zest. Add the eggs 1 at a time, and pulse just until blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Pour the cheese mixture over the crust in the pan. Place the baking pan in a large roasting pan. Pour enough hot water into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the baking pan. Bake until the cheesecake is golden and the center of the cake moves slightly when the pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour (the cake will become firm when it is cold).
Transfer the cake to a rack; cool 1 hour. Refrigerate until the cheesecake is cold, at least 8 hours and up to 2 days. Cut the cake into squares and serve.
*Limoncello liqueur can be found at most liquor stores and in the liquor department of some specialty markets.
Okay, now I am hungry. Do any of you have any other good wedding recipes that you have seen around? Do share! We can all get nice and hungry together.
Have a great weekened…next week, I have not 1, not 2 but THREE inspiration boards!!
Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar at low speed until it is smooth. Beat in the vanilla. At low speed gradually add the flour. Mix in the pecans with a spatula. With floured hands, take out about 1 tablespoon of dough and shape into a crescent. Continue to dust hands with flour as you make more cookies. Place onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 40 minutes. When cool enough to handle but still warm, roll in additional confectioners’ sugar. Cool on wire racks.
Limoncello Cheesecake Squares
Nonstick cooking spray
8 ounces purchased biscotti
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons grated lemon zest
1 (12-ounce) container fresh whole milk ricotta, drained, at room temperature
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup limoncello liqueur*
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs, at room temperature
