I think everyone does a lot of entertaining during the Holidays or makes treats for the office "goody table."

If you have a favourite "finger food" recipe, post it here!

Zarathustra

Christmas Rum Cake

1 Tsp. Sugar
1 or 2 Quarts of Rum
1 Cup Dried Fruit
Brown Sugar
1 Tsp. Soda
1 Cup Butter
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Baking Powder
3 Juiced Lemons
1 Cup of Nuts

Before starting, sample rum to check quality. Good, isn't it? Now proceed.

Select large mixing bowl, measuring cup, etc.

Check rum again. It must be just right. To be sure rum is of proper quality, pour one level cup of rum into a glass and drink it as fast as you can. Repeat.

With electric mixer, beat 1 cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl.

Add 1 seaspoon of thusar and beat again.

Meanwhile, make sure rum is still alrighty. Try another cup. Open second quart if necessary.

Add leggs, 2 cups of fried druit and beat til high. If druit gets stuck in beaters, pry loose with drewscriber.

Sample rum again, checking for tonscisticity.

Next, sift 3 cups pepper or salt (really doesn't matter).

Sample rum.

Sift 1/2 pint lemon juice. Fold in chopped butter and strained nuts. Add 1 bablespoon of brown sugar-or whatever color you can find. Wix mell. Grease oven. Turn cake pan to 350 gredees. Pour mess into boven and ake.

Check run again and bo to ged.

Okay, a quickie for both nibblies and if you add enough fresh French bread - and wine - actually makes a decent meal when guests drop in at the last minute during the holiday season.

Stuffed mushroom caps

Mushrooms - As many mushrooms as you'd like - try to get them all approximately the same size so they'll cook evenly (and because I don't like the water in fresh mushrooms, I leave them on the kitchen counter unwrapped for a couple hours to help 'dry' them out). Wipe each with paper towel and remove stem.

Can of crab meat - drain well

Butter - lots! (No cheating and using margarine - grin!).

Fresh garlic cloves - chop them up finely or grate (or minced garlic, frozen or in tube, etc)

Cheese - lots and lots of grated cheese (I use sharp cheddar so suspect any kind of hard cheese would work)

1. In a small saucepan on low, melt butter and add garlic
2. Place mushroom caps on any kind of cooking sheet or roasting pan with lower sides
3. Fill with the crab meat
4. Spoon lots of melted garlic butter over each
5. Heap lots of grated cheese on top of each

Bake in 350 degree pre-heated over for about 20 - 30 minutes (depending on size of mushrooms).

The cheese should be melted and bubbling and because the excess runs off and puddles in the pan, turning light brown and nummy, have lots of fresh bread handy as guests have a tendency to forget about their waistlines and sop up the last remaining bit of cheese and garlic butter.

Enjoy!

Oops, forgot to say that these can be made even the day ahead of time, covered and placed in fridge until ready to bake.

Amaretto Fudge (It's so sweet you'll get sick from all the sugar before the amaretto gets you sloshed)

1 package (16 ozs.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup amaretto
1 tsp. almond extract
1 package (2 oz) almond slivers (optional)

Combine chocolate chips and milk in loosely
covered bowl. Microwave 3 minutes on high. Stir
until smooth.

Grease an 8x8 pan. Spread almonds in the pan.

Add amaretto and extract to chocolate mixture.
Stir well and spread over almonds. Let cool before
cutting the fudge.

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Broccoli Salad (not a finger food, but a great alternative to potato salad and cole slaw)

1 bunch broccoli, tops only (cut into smaller pieces)
1 head cauliflower (also cut into smaller pieces)
1 medium diced red onion
1 cup raisins
1 cup sunflower seeds (optional)
6 strips bacon, cooked crisp & crumbled
(Hormel real bacon bits can also be used)
Combine all ingredients in bowl.
Pour on dressing, mix well. Chill before serving.

Dressing
Mix together

2/3 cup mayo
1/3 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Tastes better if made the day before.

Biscotti. These are good.

Apricot-Walnut Biscotti

1 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 each large egg yolks
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup lightly beaten egg white
3/4 cup fine cornmeal
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 cups dried apricots, chopped
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped walnuts
3/4 tsp grated orange zest

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and set a rack on the middle level. Grease a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper. In a large bowl, beat together all the ingredients with a heavy-duty electric mixer on medium speed until thoroughly combined. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts. On the prepared baking sheet, with well floured hands, form 3 logs, each about 15 inches long, spacing them as far apart from each other as possible. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until pale golden and firm to the touch. Let the logs cool on the sheet for about 20 minutes. Using a pancake spatula, carefully transfer the logs to a cutting board. With a long serrated knife, cut the logs crosswise into 3/4 inch-thick slices. Arrange the slices close together, but not touching, on ungreased baking sheets. Bake, one sheet at a time, for 12-15 minutes, or until pale golden and crisp, turning once. Transfer the biscotti to wire racks to cool, then store in an airtight tin at room temperature.
Recipe By: Kim Ashton

Will make the Amaretto Fudge this weekend with the little ones and Apricot-Walnut Biscotti sounds perfect to make for the guests that drop in between Christmas and New Years - thanks for sharing these recipes!

(The only ingredient I don't have is cornmeal - assume it's essential to the recipes and substituting extra flour wouldn't be quite the same, boopme?)

cornmeal is a whole different animal than cornstarch. I don't think additional flour would work
Mark

Okay, cornmeal it will be. Thanks for letting me know as some recipes substitutions may little if any difference and with others - ugh!

Came across this site when looking for recipes for finger food.Some of these makes me drool,just reading them.

http://www.passionateaboutfood.net/finger.php

EDIT.Spelling.

Thanks, DSTM - great site! And I spotted the cheese puffs listed there, which reminded me that this is one of my family's favourite things - off to make a batch of them - thank you, thank you!

Sorry to reply so late. Was out to the store.
Yes Cornmeal it's a binder ,flavor and texture ingredient. You could I guess leave it out all together but you can't use cornstach and you have enough flour. These biscotti are Italian cookies. The word biscotti means to bake twice. For harder cookie bake longer second time. I actually stay around 10 minutes on bake 2, but some times oves are different.

Made the cheese puffs this evening - nummy! (And thanks again, DSTM) ... and these cookies simply sound too good to wait until after Christmas, boopme, so it's off to the store first thing in the morning for a bag of cornmeal and I'll make a batch tomorrow as we have a guest arriving - thank you, they sounds wonderful!

Completely forgot to come back here and say how wonderful the cookies turned out, boopme! They were so, so good and I've made a note to myself to try tripling the recipe next year - thanks ever so much for sharing this.

And I'm not sure it's possible to describe what Queen-Evie's Amaretto Fudge was like! I'm sure weight gain was a risk just smelling the wonderful stuff but there was no danger of my getting much of it - the batch was gone in an instant - smooth as silk and lovely stuff!

Thanks to both of you for giving recipes that are so perfect!

So glad you enyed it Mara! An excellent holiday treat I agree.