I love appetizers and bite size foods. They are adorable and the small size often means bright and intense flavors. Tomato Bacon Cups are an appetizer I love to whip up for parties. They are pretty inexpensive to make and make a surprising amount of little bites. Its a recipe my former spouse always had at family functions but I’ve definitely made several changes to my version.

I like my appetizers to have a big punch of flavor. Using fresh tomatoes can make that dicey. There is nothing I love more than a summer tomato straight from the garden. However store bought tomatoes can lack flavor especially out of season. So I mince sundried tomatoes or add a scoop of tomato paste to really amp up the flavor. The measurements of the ingredients for the filling are a guideline and adjusting to personal taste only makes it better.

I like to plan ahead to have all or part of a dish ready before the day of. Having food ready in advance lets me enjoy my guests and hosting. I also don’t want a mess of a kitchen to face once everyone leaves. I uses bags of bacon bits, real bacon not flavored salad toppings, to save lost of time and mess. I mix the filling in my food processor. I can grate cheese, chop onions, and mix the ingredients with one tool. The only time consuming and slightly messy part is deseeding and dicing the tomatoes which only takes a cutting board and a couple minutes

(Don’t use canned diced tomatoes, I have tried and it does NOT work well)

I like to make the filling ahead of time and fill the biscuit cups right before baking. I put the filling in cheap pastry bags from the dollar store sealed with a rubber band and toss them in the fridge or freezer. Pressing the dough and filling the mini muffin cups only takes about a little longer than preheating the oven. If you don’t want to do any prep work before serving the do reheat well from the fridge or frozen. However its not advisable to fill and freeze without baking them first. The biscuit dough won’t rise from frozen.

Tomato Bacon Cups

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Ingredients

1 C REAL Bacon bits (~1 package of bacon)
2 Roma tomatoes or ~ a dozen cherry tomatoes seeded & chopped finely
1 onion chopped
8 oz shredded swiss cheese
1 c mayo
1 TBS basil
2 cans jumbo biscuit dough
Tomato Paste or sundried tomatoes* OPTIONAL

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375º

Make Filling

If using whole slices of bacon fry bacon until crispy, cool & crumble into small pieces.
Remove seeds from the tomato and chopped finely.
*Store bought tomatoes can lack flavor especially out of season. Adding minced sundried tomatoes or a scoop of tomato paste can really amp up the flavor.
Combine all ingredients except dough mixing thoroughly. (I often shred the cheese and mince the onion using my food processor then incorporate the mayo and spices with a few pulses before stirring in the tomato and bacon pieces.)
If not using right away its nice to store the mixture in pastry bags this also helps make it neater to add to the cups. (Or even a couple of ziplock bags). these can be stored in the fridge until you are ready to make up a batch of cups or frozen for a few months.

Forming and Filling the Cups

Separate biscuits into 4 pieces and place each quarter into a mini-muffin tin. If using regular sized biscuits peel apart to split in half.
Using a tart tamper press the dough into the mini-muffin cup.
A pestle from a mortar and pestle works as a great substitute for a tart tamper or the dough can be pressed into the cups by hand.
Fill with the tomato-bacon mixture.
Bake for 10-12 min or until golden brown.
Enjoy these delicious savory treat.