10 Christmas Finger Foods

Everything here is finger food in the strict sense: no plate, no fork, one or two bites.

Most of it gets assembled in the afternoon and finished in the oven while people arrive, and the two that can’t be are the two you make the day before.

Each entry has a pin so you can see what you’re aiming for, and a link to a recipe that has actually been made, not just written.

Ten below.

1. Mini Caprese Skewers

Buy the small mozzarella balls sold as ciliegine or bocconcini and cherry tomatoes about the same size, because a skewer with a big tomato and a tiny cheese ball tips over.

Dry the tomatoes and the cheese on paper towels before you thread them, or the glaze slides straight off.

One basil leaf folded in half between the tomato and the cheese is enough, since a whole leaf hanging off the end wilts within the hour.

Use 4-inch bamboo cocktail picks, not full skewers, so people can eat them in two bites without a plate.

Drizzle with balsamic glaze just before serving, never balsamic vinegar, which is thin and turns the platter into a puddle.

Assemble up to four hours ahead, covered in the fridge, and add the salt and the glaze at the last minute.

The pin is Cubes N Juliennes’ caprese skewers, which use exactly this: mini mozzarella balls, cherry tomatoes matched for size, and a balsamic glaze drizzle.

2. Cranberry Brie Bites

Cold brie cubes cleanly and room-temperature brie smears, so cut it straight from the fridge.

Leave the rind on, since it holds the cheese together in the oven.

Puff pastry squares go into a greased 12-cup muffin pan, a cube of brie in the center, a heaping teaspoon of cranberry sauce on top.

Bake at 400°F for about 20 minutes until the pastry is deep gold, then let them sit five minutes before you lift them out, because the cheese needs to set enough to hold its shape.

Leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving is the point of this recipe, and canned whole-berry sauce works just as well.

The pin is Sally’s Baking Addiction’s cranberry brie puff pastry tarts: standard muffin pan, rind on, and pecans added halfway through baking so they toast without burning.

3. Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus

Medium stalks, not pencil-thin, since thin ones go limp before the prosciutto crisps.

Snap off the woody ends, then wrap: one slice of prosciutto cut in half lengthwise covers two single stalks, or a whole slice wraps a bundle of three or four.

No salt, because prosciutto has plenty, and a little olive oil and black pepper is the whole seasoning.

Roast at 425°F for 12 to 15 minutes, on a wire rack set in a sheet pan if you have one, so the fat drips off and the prosciutto crisps all the way around.

They hold for an hour on a platter at room temperature without suffering.

No Spoon Necessary’s roasted prosciutto wrapped asparagus, pinned above, does bundles of five to eight stalks with a lemon-garlic aioli for dipping, and the rack is her tip too.

4. Stuffed Mushroom Caps

Cremini, not white button, since they hold their shape and taste like something.

Pull the stems out, chop them fine, and cook them down with onion and garlic before they go into the filling, because raw stems weep water into the caps.

Cream cheese plus parmesan is the filling that holds its shape, and ricotta or plain breadcrumbs slump.

Roast the empty caps for five minutes first on a rimmed half sheet pan, tip out the liquid, and then fill them, or the bottoms sit in a puddle.

Fill them up to 12 hours ahead, covered in the fridge, then bake at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes straight from cold.

The pin is Downshiftology’s stuffed mushrooms: cremini, a cream cheese and parmesan filling with the sautéed stems and chopped pecans, and the same 12-hour make-ahead window.

5. Bacon-Wrapped Dates

Medjool dates, pitted, and half a slice of bacon per date.

A whole slice never cooks through before the date burns, and that is the one mistake that ruins these.

If you’re stuffing them, goat cheese with a little thyme or a single whole almond both work, and either goes in before the bacon goes on.

Secure each one with a bamboo toothpick and bake on foil at 350°F, flipping once, until the bacon is crisp, about 16 to 18 minutes total.

Let them cool for five minutes, because the date inside is far hotter than the bacon suggests.

Cake ‘n Knife’s bacon wrapped dates with goat cheese, pinned above, is the half-slice version: 10 minutes, flip, then another 6 to 8.

6. Deviled Eggs With a Twist

Steam the eggs instead of boiling them, 12 minutes over an inch of simmering water, then straight into ice water, and they peel clean.

Week-old eggs peel better than fresh ones.

The twist that works is crisp bacon crumbled into the filling and a few drops of hot sauce in the yolks, with chives on top.

Pipe the filling with a Wilton 1M star tip rather than spooning it, mostly because piped eggs travel better.

Make them the morning of, keep them covered and cold, and put the bacon on just before serving so it stays crisp.

Deviled eggs should not sit out longer than two hours, so bring out half the platter and keep the rest in the fridge.

The pin is Cooking Classy’s deviled eggs, which gives you the steaming method and the bacon mix-in, plus a list of other twists if bacon isn’t yours.

7. Smoked Salmon Canapés

Cold-smoked salmon, the silky sliced kind, not hot-smoked flakes.

The base can be baguette rounds, pumpernickel squares, water crackers or cucumber rounds, and cucumber is the one for anyone avoiding bread.

The spread is cream cheese softened at room temperature and beaten with chopped dill and a squeeze of lemon; crème fraîche is looser and slides off.

Assemble no more than an hour ahead, or the base goes soft under the spread.

A twist of salmon on each one, a few capers or a sliver of red onion, and dill on top.

Keep the platter cold and don’t leave it out past two hours, because fish and dairy at room temperature is not where you want the party to go.

The pin is Momsdish’s smoked salmon canapés: sliced baguette, a dill cream cheese, and a slice of cucumber under the salmon.

8. Spinach and Feta Phyllo Triangles

Thaw the phyllo in the fridge overnight, never on the counter, and keep the stack under a damp towel while you work.

Frozen chopped spinach, thawed and wrung out in a clean kitchen towel until it stops dripping, beats fresh here, because the filling has to be dry.

Feta, an egg, scallions, dill and pepper, and no extra salt, since the feta has it.

Two sheets brushed with olive oil using a silicone pastry brush, cut into four strips, a spoonful of filling at the bottom corner, folded like a flag.

Bake at 425°F for about 20 minutes until deep gold, and rotate the pan halfway.

Freeze them unbaked on a tray, then bag them, and bake from frozen with a few extra minutes; this is the entry to make in November.

The pin is Plays Well With Butter’s spanakopita triangles, with step-by-step folding photos and olive oil instead of butter, and the baked ones keep in the freezer for three months.

9. Cheese and Charcuterie Board

Three cheeses is enough: one soft like brie, one hard like aged cheddar or manchego, and one blue or a crumbly goat.

Two cured meats, folded or rolled rather than laid flat, so people can pick them up.

Take the cheese out 30 to 45 minutes before serving, because cold brie has no flavor and cold cheddar is rubber.

Fill the gaps with things that don’t need a knife: grapes, dried apricots, cornichons, marcona almonds, a spoonable jam.

Budget about two ounces of cheese per person for an appetizer board, and keep the crackers in a separate bowl so the board doesn’t go soggy.

A cheese knife set and a large round wooden board are the two things worth owning if you do this more than once a year.

The pin is Ain’t Too Proud To Meg’s Christmas brie platter: a wheel of brie with a tree cut from the center and the hole filled with preserves, berries and cookies around it, which is the no-meat version and the right one for a mixed crowd.

10. Gingerbread Cookie Bites

Chill the dough properly, 45 minutes rolled out and another 15 after cutting, or the little shapes spread into blobs.

A mini gingerbread man cutter about an inch and a half tall gives you a one-bite cookie, and anything bigger is a regular cookie.

Bake at 350°F for about 9 minutes for minis, until the edges are set, and pull them while the centers still look soft.

Ice them with a plain powdered-sugar icing from a squeeze bottle with a fine tip, since royal icing is overkill for a cookie people eat in one bite.

They keep for a week in a tin, which makes them the first thing to bake and the last thing to worry about.

The pin is Baking Mischief’s small-batch gingerbread cookies, which gets about two dozen minis from one small batch of dough and uses a three-ingredient faux royal icing.

For the hot dip that goes next to all of this, the baked spinach and artichoke dip comes together in about 30 minutes.

And the picnic finger food ideas post is the summer version of this list, and most of it moves to a Christmas table without changing anything.