"finger food" news and stories

FINGERFOOD Party Plates are sure to be a smash this holiday season - a tiny, little smash.

The Party Plates are actually small platters affixed to rings which, as you can see, you can wear while you hold your drink.

These are perfect for hors d'oeuvres (and hand-feeding your cats, and dinner parties thrown by Barbie). My only concern is that they look a little unwieldy, like you might have to master the art of the FINGERFOOD Party Plate, certainly before attempting it while drinking.

Ten reusable plates are just $9.95 from The Spoon Sisters, and they actually recommend bringing your own to a party as a "conversation starter." That would require a level of bravery I don't have, but I would think it fun to pass these out to guests at a party of my own!

Just not over the carpet, naturally.

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For a fun finger-food rich in Omega-3s and protein, check out this spicy mix of almonds and hazelnuts, courtesy of the show everyone loves to hate/hates to love, 30 Minute Meals.

Sesame Five-Spice Roasted Nuts

1 cup peeled whole almonds
1 cup whole hazelnuts
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons five- spice powder (ground star anise, Szechuan peppercorn, cinnamon, cloves, fennel seed)
1 tablespoon hot sauce
1 cup smoked almonds. Preheat oven or toaster oven to 400 degrees F, and roast the nuts for 7 minutes.

Toast sesame seeds over medium heat in a skillet for 2 minutes and remove from heat. Add butter, five-spice powder, and hot sauce, then add roasted nuts and smoked nuts and toss to coat in butter. Add sesame seeds and toss with nuts. Serve warm.

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 This recipe from Real Simple turned out cookies that had only a minimal resemblance to the ones in their photograph. I wanted to make them because "Raspberry Puffs" sounded as though the cookies would be soft and fluffy, rather like angel food cake. They turned out to be quite crisp and much more similar to a wafer type of cookie than to any sort of cake. I was pleased to find, however, that the cookies still tasted delicious, especially once I had replaced the sour cream filling called for in the original recipe with ice cream. The result of this substitution was a finger food that tasted like a little ice cream sundae with raspberry topping.

Frankly, it would be easier to simply buy a package of vanilla wafers to make these, which is what I'll do next time. If you pick up jam, ice cream and a package of cookies, you can easily put together these last-minute munchies for your Valentine today.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]