Holidays Canapés
December 12, 2017

With the holidays in full swing, it’s time to come up with a new, festive way to dine and celebrate with your family and friends. Which brings me to part two of my holiday post series; I am continuing with the theme of the holidays and the spinach pastry post with an idea for New Year’s Eve - 2 quick recipes for canapés. Why specially canapés? Well, little nibbles and bites are a crucial part of throwing a party, especially when Christmas and New Years are concerned.

The plates I chose to serve the canapés on are from my favorite, ZAK Design Europe. And can I just say that they like my blog and recipes (which is amazing) and guys, I like their products! It’s a win-win. If you are looking for a fun gift for your family and friends, you can combine plates and bowls of different sizes and maybe add a few glasses too. A real foodie will appreciate that kind of gift!



And in the words of Taylor Swift…ready for it? Ahh yes, it really is the holidays. The first one is a savory canapé that is super easy to make because you’ll use a shortcut - round small crackers. The second canapé is sweet and can even pass off as a healthy treat because it contains dates, coconut, and is covered with matcha powder.

First canapé: Crackers with cream cheese, smoked salmon and chive.

Ingredients:

• 30 round small crackers
• 200 grams cream cheese
• 100 grams smoked salmon cut into small pieces
• A small bundle of chive cut thinly

Preparation:

• 1. Place the crackers on a plate or a platter.
• 2. Spread cream cheese on each cracker.
• 3. Add a piece of salmon to each cracker.
• 4. Garnish with chive.
• 5. Ready! See, I told you it’s a quick and easy recipe!

Second canapé: Dates balls with coconut, walnuts and matcha cover

Ingredients:

• 20 pitted dates
• 50 grams of walnuts
• 50 grams of coconut flakes
• 5 tablespoons of water (you might need a bit more if you see the batter doesn’t unify well).
• 1 tablespoon of dates syrup
• 100 grams matcha powder for cover (if you don’t have any then you can cover with more coconut flakes).

Optional- for that extra Christmassy decoration!

• 3o thin pretzel sticks
• 100 grams white chocolate
• 2 drops of green food coloring on an oil basis (the water base ones will not unify with the chocolate)
• Colorful sprinkles

Preparation:

• 1. Place the dates, coconut, walnuts, dates syrup and water in a blender.
• 2. Blend them until they become one unified batter.
• 3. With your hands, roll and create the batter into small balls.
• 4. Roll the balls on a plate that contains the matcha powder.

For the Christmas extra decoration

• 5. Place the thin pretzel sticks on a tray with intervals between them. So that the pretzels won’t touch and you’ll have plenty of room to create the trees.
• 6. Melt the white chocolate and add the food coloring.
• 7. Mix well until all the chocolate is completely green.
• 8. Drizzle the chocolate on the pretzel sticks in the shape of a Christmas tree.
• 9. Add the sprinkles.
• 10. Put the tray with the pretzels on top inside of the fridge to set (a half hour is best).
• 11. Stick each "tree" on a dates ball.
• 12. Last but not least, enjoy!

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