Easy and elegant, canapés are delicious finger food served as appetizers at festive dinners such as Christmas or New Year Eve.
Generally speaking, canapés are made up of slices of puff pastry, crackers, or bread, deprived of the crust, spread with different sauces, and stuffed with the most varied ingredients. The decoration aspect is very important in the canapés. In fact, besides making sure that the taste is well balanced and delicious, a great accent is on the look of the canapés.
The size of the aperitifs should also be taken into account when preparing them. Ideally, one should be able to eat them in one single bite, or maximum in two. In this recipe, I suggest four different ways to prepare canapés for the festive dinner. However, don’t hold yourself from experimenting with your combinations. Free your imagination to pleasantly surprise yourself and your guests.
Ingredients for canapes
The ingredients involved in this recipe are easy to find and they all combine perfectly with each other. The great part is that these canapes are done easily and it will take a maximum of 30-40 minutes for you to have a plate with delicious finger bites! See below the list of ingredients for each of the four types of canapés.
Canapés with salmon:
- salmon, either smoked or salted. I like to go for the salted salmon because it has a milder taste.
- cream cheese. You can even mix the cream cheese with some herbs for extra taste and texture
- ripe avocado. What goes better with salmon than avocado?
- green olives, pitted olives are better for canapés
- whole-grain bread
Canapés with bacon:
- bacon, cooked in an air fryer or fried on the pan
- eggs, hard-boiled eggs
- mayo mixed with a few drops of sriracha
- whole-grain bread
Canapés with sun-dried tomatoes:
- sun-dried tomatoes
- cream cheese
- fresh dill, finely chopped
- whole-grain bread
Canapés with guacamole:
- guacamole, homemade or bought from the store
- grape tomatoes of different colors
- parmesan cheese, grated
- whole-grain bread
How to shape the bread slices for canapés
Start preparing the canapés by shaping the slices of bread. Lay one slice of the bread on the table, turn a small size glass upside down and press onto the bread. Gently move the glass to the right and to left a few times to make sure the edge of the glass has cut the bread into a round shape. Now remove the round-shaped bread slice from the interior of the glass and gently lay it on a tray or platter. Repeat the method with the rest of the slices of bread until you get the needed number of canapés base. You can use a shot glass or something a bit larger than that.
How to make canapés with salmon?
For the delicious canapés with salmon, prepare the ingredients first. Slice the salmon if necessary and peel and slice one ripe avocado. Now grease one teaspoon of cream cheese on the round slice of bread, top with one avocado slice. Carefully arrange one salmon slice over the rest of the ingredients and top everything with one pitted green olive. Repeat until you’re out of ingredients or until you prepare the needed number of canapés.
How to make canapés with bacon?
For this kind of canapes, you also need to prepare the ingredients in advance. Hard boil the eggs and fry the bacon until crispy. While the eggs and the bacon are getting cooked, prepare the sauce. Mix 3 tablespoons of mayo with one teaspoon of sriracha. You already must know how mind-blowingly delicious is this sauce when combined with eggs.
Finally, built up the most delicious and appetizing bacon canape. Spread some of the mayo-sriracha sauce on the bread base, slice the egg crosswise, and top the sauce with one slice of egg. Top with a piece of crispy bacon and garnish with some arugula sprouts or other beautiful small greenies.
How to make canapés with sun-dried tomatoes?
Spread some cream cheese on the slices of bread then top with sun-dried tomatoes. Yes, it is that easy to prepare delicious and healthy canapes with sun-dried tomatoes. Sprinkle some thinly chopped fresh dill on top for extra color and taste.
How to make canapés with guacamole?
Prepare the guacamole ahead of time, or use store-bought avocado cream. Spread some guacamole on the bread then top with slices of grape tomatoes. Grate some parmesan on top and it is ready to be served.
How to serve the canapés?
Serve the elegant appetizers as soon as they’re ready. It is best to serve them in the first hour as they might fade in color and you don’t want blunt canapes on your festive table. Serve the canapes with sparkling wine and with dishes that have similar ingredients such as the salmon quiche, avocado salmon sandwich, and some tomato feta & olive salad.
Canapes
Ingredients
- 3 slices salmon smoked or salted
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1 whole-grain bread sliced
- 1/2 can green olives pitted
- 3 slices bacon fried
- 2 eggs hard-boiled
- 3 tbsp mayo
- 1 tsp sriracha
- 1/2 can dried tomatoes
- 1/2 cup guacamole
- 3-4 grape tomatoes
- 2 tbsp parmesan grated
- 1 tbsp fresh dill chopped
Instructions
How to shape the bread slices for canapés
- Lay one slice of the bread on the table, turn a small size glass upside down and press onto the bread
- Gently move the glass to the right and to left a few times to make sure the edge of the glass has cut the bread into a round shape
Canapés with salmon
- Slice the salmon if necessary and peel and slice one ripe avocado
- Spread the cream cheese on the round slice of bread
- Top with one avocado slice
- Arrange one salmon slice over the rest of the ingredients
- Top everything with one pitted green olive
Canapés with bacon
- Hard boil the eggs and fry the bacon until crispy
- Mix mayo with sriracha
- Spread some of the mayo-sriracha sauce on the bread base, slice the egg crosswise, and top the sauce with one slice of egg
- Top with a piece of crispy bacon and garnish with some arugula sprouts
Canapés with sun-dried tomatoes
- Spread some cream cheese on the slices of bread
- Top with sun-dried tomatoes
- Sprinkle some thinly chopped fresh dill
Canapés with guacamole
- Spread some guacamole on the bread
- Top with slices of grape tomatoes
- Grate some parmesan over the canapés
