Fig & Blue Cheese Savory Bites

     It has been pretty low key at my house.  I've been baking my traditional Christmas cookies and eating simple meals.  But my New Year's Day brunch is on the horizon.  That's the holiday celebration where I like to be creative, making and baking never-tried-before appetizers, main dishes, and desserts. 
     I also start thinking about what I can have on hand if someone drops by for a glass of holiday cheer.  Yesterday I made Fig & Blue Cheese Savory Bites and those who stopped by last evening thought they were wonderful.  They are also easy!

                                            Epicurious | December 2012

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature and cubed
• 1/4 cup blue cheese, crumbled
• Freshly ground black pepper
• About 3 tablespoons fig preserves

1.  Preheat oven to 350˚ F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2.  In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, butter, blue cheese, and several grinds of black pepper (I like a lot of pepper!).  Process in short bursts just until dough starts to form a ball.
3.  Transfer dough to a work surface dusted lightly with flour.  Knead the dough 2 or 3 times; divide into 3 pieces.  Take one piece of dough and roll to 1/8-inch thickness, dusting sparingly with additional flour if needed.  Using a 1-inch round, floured cookie cutter, cut as many pieces as possible from the dough and place onto the lined baking sheet.  Gather up the left-over scraps and roll and cut again.  Repeat process with the remaining pieces of dough. 
4.  Using a floured finger, make a small indentation in the middle of each round of dough.  Fill indentation with about 1/4 teaspoon fig preserves.
5.  Transfer baking sheet to middle rack of preheated oven.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until pastry is a light golden brown.  After removing baking sheet from oven, allow the Fig & Blue Cheese Savory Bites to rest 10 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.   MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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