Quiche Florentine & Ham N Cheddar Quiche

Great appetizer, snack or a breakfast dish to serve!  It can be made both with or without a crust.  But I personally like it with a crust for a balanced taste.  Here is my easy, "from scratch" recipe:

(Crust recipe makes for 48 mini crusts/ Filling recipe each good for 24 pcs)

CRUST:  (I like to use a cream-cheese base tart crust) 

 -6 oz of cream cheese, softened

-1 cup of butter (approximately 2 sticks), softened or room temp.

- 2 cups of all purpose flour

* Mix fllour, cream cheese and butter into a food processor.  This will "cut" flour into the two wet ingredients.  "Cutting" the flour requires the three ingredients to be mixed till they form a crumbly, clay-like consistency.  If not a food processor, this  may be done with a fork.

*When clay-like consistency is attained, knead the dough until smooth.

* Make small balls from dough and drop into a mini muffin baking pan.  Non-stick baking pans are best to use, otherwise grease baking pan.

*Press ball of dough down to cover base of baking pan; spread and distribute dough against the shape of the slot.

FILLINGS: 

Florentine   (Florentine recipes usually require two main ingredients: Spinach and cheese.  For this particular recipe I chose to use Swiss for a more pungent taste to compliment the spinach)

-1.5 cups spinach (chopped in small pieces)

-3/4 cup mushroom (diced)

-1/4 cup of onions. diced

-1 tsp. garlic, minced

(l-r) Spinach-mushroom mix/onion & garlic

-1 cup shredded cheddar mix (white and mild) or Mexican cheese mix (cheddar, asiago, & monterey jack)

-1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese

-1 tbsp. olive oil

- Salt & Pepper

-4 eggs

-1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half (heavy cream usually works best)

• Egg & Cream base: *With an electric mixer, beat eggs and heavy cream together. (Repeat for Ham and Cheddar)  Set aside.

* Mix spinach and diced mushroom.

* Heat oil.  Sautee onions and garlic.  Add spinach and mushroom mix.  Stir until spinach wilts and mushroom is cooked.

*Strain sauteed spinach mix to rid of excess fluid.  (Excess fluid will make the quiche soggy).  Let it cool for 10 mins (adding it immediately to the egg/cream mixture and cheese will cook the egg and melt the cheese).

*Add spinach mixture and cheeses into egg and cream mixture to make Florentine filling.  Spoon filling into pan with crust.

Quiche florentine before baking

Ham & Cheddar Filling:

-4 eggs

-1/2 cup heavy cream

-2 cups of Kraft Three Cheddar Mix (white, sharp and mild)

-1 cup smoked ham, diced in small pieces

-1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced in small pieces

-Salt & Pepper to taste

ham & cheddar quiche before baking

*Bake at 350 degrees farenheit for 13-15 mins until cheese puffs and golden brown. 

*Let stand to cool for 10 minutes and loosen edges of quiche with knife. Remove from baking pan & serve.