Holiday Chicken Presents

Photo: flickr user Wootang01

Ingredients

1 pound boneless and skinless chicken breast halves

3/4 teaspoon garlic salt

2 tablespoons butter

2 shallots, chopped

1 tablespoon Marsala wine

2 cups fresh mushrooms, sliced

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons milk

2 tablespoons sherry

1 teaspoon grated Parmesan cheese

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon freshly-ground black pepper

2 ounces packet frozen puff pastry - (17 ¼ ea) thawed

12 Swiss cheese slices - (1 oz ea)

12 country ham slices - (1 oz ea)

1 egg white lightly beaten

1/2 cup butter or margarine melted

1/4 cup Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon poppy seeds

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Preparation

Sprinkle chicken with garlic salt. Cook chicken in a lightly greased nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 7 to 8 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove from skillet; chop chicken, and set aside. I grill mine.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in nonstick skillet over medium heat; add shallots and onion, and saute 3 minutes. Add mushrooms, and saute 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low; add cream cheese and milk, stirring until blended. I add Marsala here as well as a good squirt of dijon

Remove from heat; add chopped chicken. Stir in sherry and next 3 ingredients.

Unfold 3 pastry sheets on a lightly floured surface; cut into fourths. Roll into 10-inch squares.

Place 1 cheese slice and 1 ham slice on center of each puff pastry square; top with 1/4 cup chicken mixture. Bring corners together over filling, gently pressing to seal.

Cut remaining pastry sheet into thin strips; tie each bundle with pastry ribbon. Place on a baking sheet; brush with egg white.

Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes or until golden. Whisk together melted butter and next 3 ingredients. Serve over pastry bundles. I didn't do the lemon juice in the butter but I did do it in the ingredients. When you remove the pastry, glaze with butter and mustard.

This recipe yields 12 servings. You can make these really small as appetizers or larger for dinner size servings