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Cookie Exchange appetizer ideas?
I'm hosting a cookie exchange for girls from work soon. It will be on a Monday at 5. I can't leave work until 4, so I'll only have 45 minutes to do anything that needs to be done right before the party.
I typically serve appetizers that are easy to eat and don't do anything sweet (mostly because we tend to sample the cookies, so no need). I don't want to go overboard because most people have to go home and feed their family anyway.
So far, I have a bit a million dip/spread ideas but they all involve cheese. I'd like some non-cheese suggestions. Last year, I made bacon-wrapped dates and they went over well. I may repeat those. I'm not a fan of things like meatballs in the crockpot. I'm aiming for things that don't require a fork.
Right now, I have:
marinated parmesan and asiago cheese with crostini
Jalapeno Cheese Thumbprints (basically, cheese straw dough baked like a thumbprint cookie with jalapeno jelly in the thumbprint)
and that's it. I could also do some sort of roasted red pepper pesto spread for the crostini and regular basil pesto spread.
For drinks, I'm serving wine, iced tea, non-alcoholic spiced cider, and cosmoritas.
Any ideas or suggestions?
Re: Cookie Exchange appetizer ideas?
I'm not a fan of cheese, so here are a few ideas:
Shrimp cocktail
Baked stuffed mushrooms
Grape leaves with tzatziki (I usually just buy them premade)
Bruschetta (you can do it the traditional way or do something with red peppers or eggplant.)
Stuffed olives
Melon wrapped in prosciutto
I love your idea of the bacon wrapped dates. Can you share how you do this?
I just made these for a baby shower last week and they were great. They can be prepared ahead of time and crisped in the oven before serving.
Potato Parsnip Latkes
Another option would be these. You can do the puff pastry a few days in advance and make the filling just before serving, which doesn't take long at all.
Wild Mushroom Bouchees
For my cookie exchange on Saturday, I will be making
Crudite with white bean dip
Tomato and bacon cups
Mini twice baked potatoes
Vegetable pizza
And some sort of crostini
Okay, how about:
Trio of marinated parmesan and asiago cheeses with crostini (one is plain with garlic, another has a 5 peppercorn blend, and the 3rd is diablo).
Crudite platter with hummus and a sour cream-based dip
jalepeno cheese thumbprints
spanikopita
Texas Caviar with tortilla chips or fritos
bacon wrapped dates
baked brie (some sort of savory topping) with crackers
pesto palmiers
That sounds perfect. If you're pressed for time, I definitely think you could even skip one or two of those things and your guests would still be happy.
I read somewhere that five appetizers is a sufficient amount, so in order to not stress myself out so much, I am limiting to five.
But I think your ideas sound great!
I think it sounds great. One little tweak, though. In thinking about the colors that you have, I would do a blue corn tortilla chip instead of fritos. It would give you more color and, right now, you've got a lot of beige.
Good call about the blue corn chips!