WILTON, Conn. -- Super specials to feed hungry guests may be needed at short notice on a variety of occasions, from national spectaculars to informal parties.

Cooks' contingency plans could include a recipe-repertoire of appetizers. These small bites are the perfect way to make people happy, quickly. They hit the spot whether you're catering for the hanging-around-at-home team, or for people who drop in as expected -- or for those who arrive up without warning.

Two recent cookbooks confirm that there are plenty of easy, good recipes available to help the host cook have as much fun as everyone else.

-- Mark Bittman's newest hefty tome, "The Best Recipes in the World," (Broadway Books, $29.95). From this book, you may wish to try gougeres, baked cheese puffs that will keep people going back for more. Split them open and fill them with a little dip mixture or let your guests figure it out for themselves. Another recipe from the book is for shrimp deviled eggs, tasty and totable.

--Pam Anderson's book, "Perfect Recipes for Having People Over" (Houghton Mifflin, $35) features the following recipe for Quesadillas for a Crowd.

Gougeres can also be fried but this easy baked version is less messy. If you have a horde of hungry, clamoring guests, gougeres are filling and can buy you a few extra minutes as you pull the rest of the meal together. They can also be made up to a day ahead of time, cooled, covered and reheated at 200 F.

Gougeres

4 tablespoons ( 1/2 stick) butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups flour

3 eggs

1 cup freshly grated aged Gruyere, Emmenthal, Cantal or Cheddar cheese

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan or other hard cheese

Directions:

Lightly grease 2 baking sheets and preheat the oven to 425 F.

Combine 1 cup water, the butter and the salt in a medium saucepan; turn the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring, until the butter melts, just a minute or two longer. Add the flour all at once and cook, stirring constantly, until dough holds together in a ball, 5 minutes or less. The dough will get stiffer as you stir it; keep at it until the dough is smooth. Transfer the batter to a large mixing bowl or the work bowl of a stand mixer.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating hard after each addition (this is a little bit of work; use a stand mixer if you have one; a hand mixer will likely not be powerful enough). Stop beating when the mixture is glossy. Stir in the cheeses.

Drop teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheet and bake until puffed and lightly browned, about 10 to 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 8 to 12 servings, 30 to 40 gougeres.

(Recipe from Mark Bittman's "The Best Recipes in the World," Broadway Books, 2005, $29.95)

There are other uses for these deviled eggs, outside party time. Have a small household of one or two? Make a meal of these flavorful eggs along with some crusty bread, a tossed salad, and a drink. This recipe can also be made with 1/4 pound of cooked, shredded salmon or chopped smoked salmon in place of the shrimp.

Shrimp Deviled Eggs

1/4 pound medium to large shrimp, peeled

4 hard-cooked eggs

6 pimento-stuffed olives, chopped

1 tablespoon minced onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley plus additional sprigs for garnish

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tablespoons mayonnaise, preferably homemade

Directions:

Bring a small pot of water to a boil. Add the shrimp and cook until pink, 2 to 5 minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water and drain again and chop into small dice.

Peel the eggs, halve them lengthwise and remove the yolks. Mash 2 of the yolks in a medium bowl and set aside the remaining yolks. Add the shrimp, olives, onion, parsley, Worcestershire sauce and oil and mix well. Season with salt and pepper.

Mound this mixture in the egg-white shells. Top with a little dollop of mayonnaise and crumble the remaining egg yolks on top. Garnish with parsley and serve, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to a day; bring back to room temperature before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

(Recipe from Mark Bittman's "The Best Recipes in the World," Broadway Books, 2005, $29.95)

Barbara Albright: Here is my method for hard-cooking eggs. Bittman's, as given in his book, is slightly different, and he acknowledges he has changed it several times over the years. I used my own familiar method when testing this recipe because it works for me.

Making perfect hard-cooked eggs:

Place the eggs in a pan large enough to comfortably hold the eggs. Add just enough cold water so that the water comes about 1 inch over the tops of the eggs. Bring the water to a boil. When it boils, remove the pan from the heat. Let stand 15 minutes.

Then drain the eggs immediately and place them in a bowl of cold water. When the eggs have cooled, gently crack them on a flat, hard surface to loosen the shells. Starting at the wide end of the egg where there is an air space, peel off the shell and the thin white membrane. Dip the egg in cold water occasionally to help.

Unlike most quesadilla recipes when you have to flip the quesadillas in a skillet, Pam Anderson's creative baked method employs two jellyroll pans. The book has several other delicious varieties.

Quesadillas for a Crowd -- Goat Cheese, Olives and Red Onion

Four 10-inch (or six 8-inch or ten 6-inch) flour tortillas

Oil for brushing tortillas

4 ounces mild goat cheese

1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped

1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced

Dried thyme leaves for sprinkling

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and preheat the oven to 500 F.

Directions:

Lightly brush tortillas with oil and place oil-side down on a foil-lined 18-by-12-inch rimmed baking sheet or jellyroll pan. Spread half of each tortilla with the cheese, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edge of each tortilla.

Top each tortilla half with the olives and onion and season with the thyme leaves. Fold tortillas over filling. Place another baking sheet of similar size over the top to weigh them down. Bake until bottoms are golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes (the larger quesadillas will need a few extra minutes). Turn quesadillas over and continue to bake, until browned on second side, about 3 minutes longer.

Transfer to cutting board and let cool for at least a minute. Cut into wedges and serve.

Makes 4 servings.

(From "Perfect Recipes for Having People Over" by Pam Anderson, Houghton Mifflin, 2005, $35)