Recommended by Duncan Hines -- Hot Toasted Cheese Hors d’Oeuvres – and the sampling table

     Restaurants, cafes, motels & hotels wanted to capitalize on their inclusion in Duncan Hine’s guidebooks (started in 1936, the restaurant guidebook was in it's 50th printing in 1957). Since these establishments were not allowed to advertise in his guidebook (he considered this to be a conflict of interest), Hines provided them with an inexpensive yet ingenious service – for an annual rental fee of about $10.00 he provided a uniformly-sized metal sign – “Recommended by Duncan Hines”.

     After locating a copy of the sign on the Internet, I downloaded it, made it into a poster and placed one on both my front and back door . . .  in anticipation of my recent literary program on Hines.

This is the sign posted
on our back door.

     No, I did not send anyone $10.00 but I did inform Duncan’s great niece of my actions. Cora Jane’s immediate response, “I hope it’s the red one, the blue ones are for lodging.” I assured her I was inviting my literary group just for food; I had no plans to keep them for the night!
     Anyway, I thought I needed one savory item on my sampling table and this is the recipe I selected . . . but I did make a few adjustments that I have noted below.

Hot Toasted Cheese Hors d’Oeuvres    Serves 25

2 cups grated cheese (I grated sharp Cheddar)

1 egg beaten

10 dashes Tabasco (hot) sauce

1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce

¼ teaspoon salt

2 loaves of bread (1 used a partial loaf, 13 slices, of wheat sandwich-style bread and ended up with 52 squares)

1 lb. bacon (I used just 4 to 5 slices of bacon per 13 slices of bread -- see notes below)

1.     Combine cheese, egg, hot sauce, Worcestershire Sauce and salt; mix well with a fork.

2.     Remove crusts from bread and cut in 1” squares. Place a spoonful of mixture on each piece.

After removing the crusts, I simple cut the slice of bread into four pieces;
they measured about 1 1/2" and, in my estimation, were the perfect size.

I've started adding the cheesy mixture to the bread squares.

3.     Top with strips of bacon. Toast in 450° oven until brown. (Worried that the bacon would not crisp up to my liking before the bread was charred, I experimented -- The bread pieces became nice and toasty in 5 to 8 minutes but the bacon was still soft. So, here's what I did: 

      Put the cheese covered bread in the 450° oven for 5 to 8 minutes. 

      Meanwhile microwave serve slices of bacon. Crumble into relatively big chunks.

      Once, cheesy squares come out of oven, place bacon chunks on hot chefs.)

Recipe #8 in Adventures in Good Cooking, came from Cathryn’s in Portland, Oregon.

Other Duncan Hines recipes included on our blog:

·      Betty Cass’ Brown Sugar Cookes

·      Chocolate Upside Down Cake

·      Date & Fudge Cakes

·      Fudge Squares

·      Taffy Tarts

·      Nut Macaroons

AND, the adventure continues . . .

We liked the little squares so much, that we made Open-Faced Hot Toasted
Bacon & Cheese Sandwiches for breakfast -- didn't even bother to
trim the crusts off the bread. Great with a poached egg but I'd eat it for lunch, too