If you’re throwing a party for New Year’s Eve, you’ll be needing a few easy canapé recipes up your sleeve. When I say easy I mean really lazy but still with the appearance of being an attentive foodie host.
I know you can get shop-bought mini bites, but the affordable ones tend to be beige, need baking in the oven and contain so much cheese that they make you feel pretty bloated and queasy as they congeal in your tum. Bleugh. After all the calorie abuse of Christmas, keep it as fresh as possible I say. I’ve also tried to use ingredients you might still have knocking about in the fridge like the remnants of your cheese board and the last of the smoked salmon.
I wouldn’t do any more than three different types of canapé from scratch, or you won’t have time to get dressed and be fabulous. You can make parts of these canapés in advance, but they’re best made shortly before you want to serve them or they might go a bit limp and soggy. It’s all just a bit of an assembly job though, nothing technical or that requires any cooking.
So here are my ideas for low effort New Year’s Eve party nibbles:
Smoked salmon and horseradish mini squares
Ingredients
100g creme fraiche
50g creamed horseradish sauce
1/2 lemon, zest only
Rye bread
Smoked salmon, thin slices
Dill
Method
Mix the creme fraiche, horseradish sauce and lemon zest together in a bowl until combined. You could cover and refrigerate at this point until you’re ready to assemble your canapés.
Cut the slices of rye bread into equal-sized squares (approx 5cm) then spread each with a dollop of the horseradish mixture.
Top with a slice of smoked salmon and a sprig of dill and then serve.
Sweet chilli and basil crostini
Ingredients
1 pot cream cheese
3 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
Sun-dried tomato melba toasts
Fresh basil leaves
Mix the cream cheese and sweet chilli sauce together in a bowl until well combined. Adjust the amount of sweet chilli sauce according to taste. You can add extra chopped fresh chillies, coriander and lime zest for more of a kick, but that’s assuming you’ve got more time on your hands.
Spread each little toast with a layer of the creamy mixture and then top with a single basil leaf and serve.
Garlic cheese piquant peppers
Ingredients
1 jar of piquant peppers
Garlic roule cheese – or any other soft cheese like goats cheese or roquefort
Method
Simply take a little of the soft cheese and stuff into the hollow of the piquant peppers. Repeat until they’ve all been filled. Easy or what?! Just try not to eat them all as you go along! As these canapés don’t sit on any bread or anything crunchy, you can make them entirely in advance, cover in cling film and pop in the fridge until needed.
To serve
The canapés look great assembled on a piece of black slate dressed with salad leaves, or you could use bigger platters if you’ve got lots of guests coming over.
If you have time, make a batch of these spiced nuts to sit alongside your canapés. They’re salty, sweet and spicy all at once and ready in a matter of minutes. You could package some up in pretty jars and give as little table gifts.
Platters with cured meats, cheeses, grapes and olives with a selection of crackers and chutney are also great for feeding a crowd with zero effort as everyone can help themselves.
If you’ve got to put hot food on make it a fork supper. Something like a large batch of massaman curry and rice that you can cook in advance. Make the curry in a slow cooker and then keep it warm ready to serve up.
For drinks make jugs of cocktails to welcome your guests – everyone will be sick of mulled wine by now! This year we’ll be quaffing seasonal Poinsettias which I found in Nigella’s Christmas book and are pictured above. It’s a delicious mix of prosecco, cranberry juice and cointreau. Plus there’ll also be a jug of my Spiced Apple Mojitos which have gone down a storm lately!
Enjoy the rest of the holidays and see you all in 2016 for some clean living and perhaps a lighter approach to eating – well for a little while at least!
More inspiration
Here are some more great New Year’s Eve canapé ideas from blogs I love to browse:
Beer Battered Haggis Bites from Tinned Tomatoes
30 inspiring party food ideas from Franglais Kitchen
Mini Baked Potatoes from Eats Amazing
Polenta Crostini from The Petite Cook
how pretty these look Katie and I love the presentation too. have a lovely 2016 all of you x
Thanks Nazima! Happy new year to you too lovely! xxx
These ideas are fab – love the smoke salmon and horseradish combo – yum!! We are heading to a party this NYE and I’m ashamed to say my food is lazy and beige in the form of sausage rolls and (non-homemade) profiteroles! You are an inspiration 😀 x
Thanks Sam! I am very partial to a sausage roll… Probably too partial!
What lovely, easy and decidedly non-beige offerings for a NYE party. And nice tips too! Happy New Years when it comes. 🙂
Thanks Kellie, here’s to a happy and healthy 2016 all round!
Definitely with you on easy options that look and taste great. Love these ideas, especially the melba toasts – why do I always forget about ready made melba toasts – I love them so much!
Happy New Year to you Katie. Would love any of these with a celebratory glass of Champagne.
Love the sound of the sweet chilli crostini – I’m obsessed with sweet chilli!
God same Becca… I eat it a lot!!!!!