As the holidays roll around yet again, it’s time to get creative with all that entertaining you have planned. Maybe it’s an office party you are throwing or it could be a holiday get-together with family and friends, but you want to lay out a spread of delectable finger foods carefully chosen for visual appeal as well as delightful tastes. Here are five finger food ideas that are quick and easy to make and just as beautiful as they are delicious.
A Word About Presentation
Any great chef will gladly tell you that presentation is just as important as taste. In fact, some even go so far as saying that presentation may be even more important because if a plate doesn’t look appetizing, a guest is likely to believe it tastes as bad as it looks. Perhaps there’s truth in this, which is why so many hosts and hostesses insist on going all out when planning finger foods for their holiday festivities.
When laying out a spread, it is vital to choose how you place it on the table. From lacy doilies to crystal punch bowls, presentation is the name of the game. Have you considered laying out some of your prettier finger foods on a pizza paddle? There are some beautiful stained pizza paddles that make amazing serving trays and those with a handle are easy to pick up to work your way through the room with those finger foods you’ve spent so long creating. (Yes that’s right, creating!)
A Work of Love – A Work of Art
So then, what kinds of finger foods would you like to serve? Some suggestions might be slices of gourmet hard cheeses with crackers. At any gourmet or food service store, you can pick up specialty frill picks to give those cheeses a bit of color. Frill picks, for those who aren’t familiar with the term, are simply long toothpicks with frilly fluffs of plastic at the end. For the holidays, it is suggested you use red and green but any color will do depending on your décor.
Finger foods you might want to consider for their festive appeal might include these finger foods inspired by recipes scattered around this site. Try these out for starters:
- Spinach wrap pinwheels spread with pimento cheese and garnished with parsley flakes.
- Toasted ravioli garnished with fresh basil around the platter and served with tomato sauce.
- Stuffed puffs –mushroom puffs, although not colorful, are especially tasty! A variation might be cream cheese and crab stuffing, sprinkled with what else but parsley.
- Spinach and artichoke dip served with tomato crackers – the redder the better!
- Cream cheese and black olive snowmen made with melon ballers in two sizes and sprinkled with parsley and paprika. For that extra flourish, add a face with bits of chopped red and green bell peppers and the traditional carrot nose, of course.
The point is, you can whip up literally any finger food you find intriguing and all it takes is a little creative genius to turn them into classic holiday favorites. Remember, it’s all about presentation and that pizza paddle mentioned above could also be garnished with fresh basil, evergreen sprigs (real or artificial), miniature pine cones and tiny poinsettias. Why not use edible red flowers instead? What a lovely idea!
It’s a Wrap!
So, you see, these are just a few of the ideas you can have loads of fun creating and they won’t cost you an arm and a leg. You can turn even the most ordinary of colors into delightful holiday treats with sprinkles of parsley, basil, paprika, and little bits of diced tomatoes and red or green peppers.
Don’t forget the lacy doilies and holiday-colored frill picks. They may be finger foods, but your guests will appreciate your thoughtfulness in providing ways to snag those treats without making a mess of their hands and clothing. With all that in mind – it’s a wrap (pun intended)!
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