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These bite-sized phyllo appetizers may have fancy (and wonderful!) flavors, but they are a breeze to put together! Thank you to Athens Foods for helping me to share this recipe with you.

The line-up for the healthy holiday appetizer table continues! We have everything from Mini Hummus & Roasted Pepper Phyllo Bites to Skinny Pesto Pizza Crostini and Mini Brie & Pear Quesadillas. But where are the shrimp?!

In my crustacean-loving mind, a cocktail or holiday party just isn’t complete without some sort of shrimp dish. Of course, we could do the classic shrimp and cocktail sauce hors d’oeuvres. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s even more fun to think outside of the box.

When my husband and I spent our 15th wedding anniversary at Deer Valley Resort, we had dinner at their new restaurant, The Brass Tag. While there are so many amazing dishes to choose from, one that stands out in my mind is the tarragon and white wine butter brick oven shrimp skillet. Whew, that’s a long name. But let me tell you, it earns it because the flavors are fantastic!

I decided to re-create the flavors of that dish at home, putting a healthy spin on it and turning it into a bite-sized appetizer.

I pulled out a couple of boxes of Athens Mini Fillo Shells from my freezer, which are fantastic for both hors d’oeuvres and desserts. It only takes 10 minutes for the shells to defrost at room temperature, so they were more than ready by the time I finished making the shrimp filling.

In this recipe, I served the shells at room temperature, but if you prefer that the pre-baked shells are warm, just pop them in the oven for a few minutes.

To start, I replaced the butter with a little olive oil. To me, this dish is mostly about the shrimp, sherry and tarragon, so I didn’t lose any flavor by making that substitution. Even though fat is still being added, it’s a healthy fat, rather than the saturated fats found in butter.

One trick with shrimp is to resist the urge to overcook them. Particularly when chopped, the shrimp take no more than a couple of minutes to become opaque. Say “no” to overcooked, rubbery shrimp!

Be sure to strain out the extra liquid as you are transferring the filling from the skillet to the fillo shells. The extra liquid, while good enough to drink (seriously), could cause the shells to turn soggy. The light, crisp layers of the fillo shells are so wonderful to sink your teeth into and you don’t want anything to ruin that experience!

For more details on the mini fillo shells and other Athens Foods products, be sure to follow them on Facebook, on Pinterest and Twitter.

Other light appetizer recipes:

Cookin' Canuck's Cinnamon Apple & Goat Cheese Crostini
Cookin' Canuck's Smoked Salmon & Cucumber Appetizer with Caper Yogurt
A Side of Sweet's Lightened Up Mini Twice Baked Potato Appetizers
Fit, Fun & Delish's Cilantro Jalapeño Hummus

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