Festive canapé ideas

The best Christmas canapes are:

• Duck and plum pâte bites
• Smoked salmon and cream cheese blinis
• Cranberry sauce and brie canapes
• Chestnuts in blankets
• Deep fried stuffing balls
• Stuffed dates
• Parmesan brussel sprouts
• Grilled fruit with chilli

Now let’s learn more - and some tips for making them...

Duck liver and plum pâte bites

Pâté is a popular starter for “occasion” meals such as Christmas dinner, but it can also be divided up and made into tasty canapes. By using ingredients like duck and plum - associated with the season, the pâté becomes extra festive.

It is made by frying shallots and garlic in butter, then adding the duck livers (trimmed to remove any sinew or muscle) until all is browned. Brandy or port is then added to the mixture and boiled down as fast as possible. Poached plums, spiced with cinnamon, star anise and cloves and chopped into small pieces are stirred into the pan’s contents, which is then blitzed in a food processor and pushed through a sieve. The mixture is then seasoned and put in a serving dish before being transferred to the fridge to set. Once ready, put a small piece of pâté on a bitesize piece of toasted sourdough and garnish with a cornichon.

Top tip

Soak the duck livers in milk overnight before use - this will provide a more refined taste, as the milk draws out bitterness and impurities.

Allergy alert!

There are a couple of allergens in duck liver pâte bites - the pâte is made with butter - a derivative of Milk, and if they are served on wheat bread they will also include Cereals containing Gluten. Both are among the 14 major food allergens.

Smoked salmon and cream cheese blinis

The smoked salmon blini is an absolute party classic, and the combination of smoky fish and rich cheese has perfect festive decadence - they’re also extremely easy to put together.

Blinis, a type of small Russian and Eastern European pancake, have long been a standard go-to when it comes to canapés (and can be made from scratch or bought ready-made) and in this dish are simply topped with a spoonful of cream cheese and a piece of smoked salmon (a salmon fillet that has been cured and hot or cold smoked then thinly sliced).

Often a sprig of dill adds a splash of colour and a finishing touch.

Top tip

Sprinkle a small amount of onion salt or onion powder over the salmon to really make the flavour pop.

Allergen alert!

Every component of a smoked salmon and cream cheese blini contains one of the 14 major food allergens.

These are Milk from the cream cheese, Fish from the salmon and Cereals containing Gluten, Eggs and Milk from the blinis (although vegan and/or gluten-free blinis are available).

Cranberry sauce and brie canapes

Cranberry sauce has been a UK festive favourite since at least 1994, when popular chef Delia Smith included a recipe for cranberry sauce in her book (and television series) Delia Smith’s Christmas.

But cranberry sauce is more than just a side dish - mix it together with a herb such as rosemary and some balsamic vinaigrette and place on a small pice toasted bread or melba toast. Top with a piece of brie and another little sprig of rosemary.

Top tip

Stick under the grill before serving - until the brie is oozing and golden.

Make it vegan

Use a vegan cheese that melts well - like Violife, instead of brie, or even a small piece of fried tofu.

Allergen alert!

Homemade cranberry sauce typically doesn’t include any allergen ingredients, but some processed versions may contain Sulphur Dioxide, Milk or even Nuts.

Brie is a type of cheese and therefore a Milk derivative, and most types of bread are made using a wheat or rye flour - both Cereals containing Gluten.

Chestnuts in blankets

The idea of chestnuts roasting on an open fire has been associated with the festive period since Victorian times, and was immortalised in The Christmas Song. But since open fires aren’t great for parties, chestnuts in blankets make a fitting alternative.

They are made by wrapping a rasher or half rasher of streaky bacon around a chestnut and securing it with a cocktail stick, and repeating until you have the desired number of canapes. They are then roasted in a preheated oven for around 10 minutes, then removed and each brushed with a mixture of maple syrup and mustard, and roasted for a further 10 minutes. Serve with a sprinkle of thyme.

Make it vegan

Use finely sliced aubergine to wrap the chestnuts instead of bacon - just brush the slices with a little oil first as aubergine doesn’t have bacon’s natural juices.

Top tip

Like you would with brussel sprouts, score your chestnuts - using a knife (ideally a Chestnut knife but any small sharp knife will do) to slice an ‘X’ on the bottom (the rounded side) - being careful not to cut too deep and catch the inner skin. It will help the chestnuts roast.

Allergen alert!

Whilst bacon and chestnuts are not allergen ingredients themselves, Mustard (the main ingredient in the glaze) is one of the major allergens.

Fried stuffing balls

Turkey may not be complete without stuffing, but stuffing can certainly hold up as a stand alone snack - particularly when deep fried with a crispy breadcrumb coating (adding texture as well as reducing mess). Pork, sage and onion stuffing is the most traditional, but the ingredients most varieties have in common are some sort of starch (breadcrumbs, rolled oats, pearl barley etc), some sort of herb (bay leaves, sage, garlic) and chopped onion or another kind of vegetable.

Other popular stuffing ingredients include sausage meat, chopped nuts, leeks, mushrooms, chopped fruit, cider and even tofu for vegan or vegetarian stuffing, all bound together with egg and rolled into balls or pressed into a dish or cavities in your turkey. For stuffing balls, the stuffing mix should be shaped into spheres, then rolled in beaten egg, flour and breadcrumbs before deep frying for around 8 minutes or until golden. Serve on a cocktail stick.

Make it vegan

There are plenty of recipes for vegan stuffing, but specifically for pork, sage and onion stuffing the pork can be easily substituted for chopped mushrooms.

Top tip

Before deep frying the balls, wrap each in a strip of streaky bacon for extra indulgence.

Allergen alert!

Typically, stuffing contains the food allergens Cereals containing Gluten (via breadcrumbs), Egg and Milk (via butter) as part of the main ingredients, and depending on the recipe may also contain Celery, Molluscs (Oysters), (Tree) Nuts or Soya (Tofu).

Stuffed dates

Stuffed dates are one of the easiest and most versatile canapes around - they can be vegan, vegetarian, or allergy-free, depending what you stuff them with.

A staple of North African and Middle Eastern cuisine, they are made by boiling or heating (usually large, sweet Medjool) dates, removing the pits and stuffing the cavity with meat, mint and parsley, nut butter, nuts (pistachio and almonds are particularly popular) goat’s cheese, tahini or even candied fruit.

Top tip

To properly stuff the dates you’ll need them to be nice and soft - if they’re too hard you can soak them in a bowl with boiling water for 10 minutes before use.

Allergen alert!

Dates themselves are not an allergen, so whether this dish contains any major allergens depends on what you stuff them with. Common choices such as cheese, nuts and tahini (Sesame) are all among the 14 major food allergens.

Parmesan brussel sprouts

Sometimes the unfairly maligned component of a Christmas dinner, brussel sprouts are actually perfectly sized for canapes, and with the addition of parmesan they’ll be extra moreish too. To make them, coat the sprouts in melted butter and add garlic salt and seasoning.

Then roll the coated sprouted in fine breadcrumbs and parmesan before transferring to the oven to roast for around 30 minutes until crispy and golden.

Make them vegan

Nutritional yeast is the perfect plant-based alternative to parmesan cheese, and you can use olive oil spread or margarine instead of butter. See more easy vegan switches here.

Top tip

When you tip the coated sprouts onto the baking tray make sure they aren’t touching each other. If they don’t have enough space between them they will steam cook instead of roasting, and it will less the flavour and texture.

Allergen alert!

Parmesan and butter are both derivatives of Milk, one of the 14 major food allergens.

Grilled fruit with chilli

A lot of party food - particularly sweet canapes and desserts, can be very heavy and cream or chocolate based. So grilled fruit with chilli dipping sauce makes for a light, refreshing (and healthy) switch up that those following most diet plans can enjoy. Watermelon, mango, melon and pineapple go particularly well with chilli sauce, which gives the dish a little festive kick, and simply need to be placed on an oiled and very hot griddle pan for around 20-30 seconds each side until chargrilled marks appear on the fruit flesh. Serve with a chilli sauce made by heating water, sugar, chilli powder and lime juice in a small pan until fully combined.

Top tip

Add Christmas-aligned spices like vanilla seeds, cardamom and a cinnamon stick to the chilli sauce during cooking for extra festive flavour.

Allergen alert!

There are no major allergens in grilled fruit and chilli sauce.