Mini Cheese and Olive Welsh Rarebit Bites for Festive Frolics!

French Tart's Note:

A delectable tangy topping of Cheddar cheese, chopped olives, sun-dried tomatoes with cherry tomatoes - melted on little toasted bread rounds! Perfect for all types of parties, buffets, nibbles, Hors D'oeuvres, starters and aperitif snacks! I make up my toasted bread rounds ahead of time and store them in an airtight tin; the cheese rarebit mixture can also be made ahead, you just need to spread it on top of the toasted bread rounds and then pop them in the oven for 5 to 8 minutes. Perfect, tasty and very elegant! I usually use green olives, as I prefer the flavour when mixed with the cheese and tomatoes - but you could use black olives if you wish. I also use pimento stuffed olives to great effect, I am sure that almond stuffed olives would also be wonderful. Try to use a good quality thick sliced loaf of bread for the toasted bread rounds - it makes such a difference to the finished taste. This recipe is easily doubled or trebled for larger gatherings!

• Total Time: 20 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 12

Yield: 12.0 Mini Ch ...

• 4 -6 slices bread, white or 4 -6 slices brown bread
• 4 ounces grated cheddar cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon English mustard powder
• 2 tablespoons good quality mayonnaise
• 2 ounces green pitted olives, finely chopped
• 6 extra olives, cut into half (to garnish)
• 2 sun-dried tomatoes, drained and finely chopped
• 6 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• salt
• pepper

Directions:

1. Stamp 12 x 2" rounds out of the sliced bread - the spare bread can be kept for fresh breadcrumbs.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 230C/475F and line a baking tray with greasproof paper.
3. Lay the bread rounds on the lined tray and bake for about 3 to 5 minutes or until a pale golden brown. Remove from the oven.
4. Mix the grated cheese, chopped olives, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, mustard powder and mayonnaise together - season with salt and pepper to taste, remembering the olives are already quite salty!
5. Spread the mixture over the top of the pre-toasted bread rounds and bake in the pre-heated oven for about 5 to 8 minutes, or until the mixture has melted and is bubbling.
6. Take the mini rarebits out and place half a cherry tomato into the toppping of each round - put them back into the oven for about 1 to 2 minutes to soften the tomato, make sure they do not brown too much.
7. Take them out of the oven and finish off by placing half an olive in the middle of each cherry tomato as a final garnish.
8. Serve warm or at room temperature with cocktails, wine and other Hors D'oeuvres for festive feasts, frolics, parties or buffets!
9. The toasted bread rounds can be stored for up to a week in an airtight tin, and the cheese rarebit mixture can be made ahead and stored for up to 3 days in the fridge.

Reviews

[K9 Owned]

EVENT: My first meeting with Ontario Zaar members at an appetizer party 2 hours from home. Party starts at 1pm Saturday. No pressure...ya right! MISTAKE: I made an appetizer - refrigerated it to allow the flavours to meld Friday evening. At midnight on my way to bed I decided to check out how all of those lovely flavours were working.....YUCK!!!!! SOLUTION: Find another recipe that I could shop for and make before 11am Saturday morning. I logged on to Zaar - chose yours, made my shopping list and left a note for DH to get me up really early. I was in the parking lot waiting for the store to open at 8am. PROBLEM: Damn! DH hates olives but I'm making this recipe come hell or high water. SOLUTION: Triple the recipe - make half as written and swap out the olives for crumbled bacon in the other half. RESULT: Very pretty, delicious little morsels that saved the day for me. These will definately be one of my 'go to' recipes for appetizers. Couldn't be easier or better tasting. I used extra old cheddar and only had them in a 375 oven as I was sharing space. It worked out fine. Thanks so much for this little gem!

[Mrs. Moon]

I took these to a New Years Eve party where they were a huge hit! Even olive haters ate them up once the olive was taken off the top. Thanks for sharing!

[Tiggrr]

Enjoyed a few of these at CL Appy party too...they were sooo good. I will definitely keep these in mind to make for us some time soon.