Perfect Christmas party buffet

[TitaniaQueenOfTheFairies]

I'm just starting a list of food for our Christmas party. I plan to do a mix of homemade and bought dishes. So far I have

Mini pies (chicken /beef)
Vegetarian sausage rolls
Smoked salmon and cream cheese pinwheels
Olives, nuts, roast tomatoes and mozzarella, stuffed peppers
Rocket and fig salad
Cheese, fruit and crackers

What else would you add? Do you prefer finger food or fork food? I'm also thinking a baked Camembert but not sure how easy to eat without sitting at a table. I find dips aren't usually eaten as people take a plateful and sit elsewhere.

Adults or children as well?

Mini quiches
Christmas pudding cupcakes www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/christmas-pudding-cupcakes
Mini yule logs but don't make them, just buy chocolate mini rolls and dust them with icing sugar.
Brie and cranberry parcels www.dairycouncil.co.uk/consumers/recipes/cheese-up-your-life/baked-brie-and-cranberry-parcels
Stuffing bites www.rachelphipps.com/2015/12/christmas-kitchen-bacon-wrapped.html
Mushroom and chestnut parcels www.saga.co.uk/magazine/food/recipes/snacks-light-meals/mushroom-shallot-and-chestnut-parcels
Breaded mozzarella sticks
Cheese straws
Mini mince pies
Stollen bites
Lebkuchen

Agree with you about 'dips'...

For parties I like a vast cheeseboard with apples, celery, nuts. Good bread and crackers.

Festive sandwiches- Turkey, stuffing and cranberry.
Nut roast?

I forgot to mention the sweet stuff - thinking a massive cheesecake, and maybe profiteroles.

Adults and older teens, so they like the brown food.

I love cheese straws, but I can't find my Bero cookbook, which has the only recipe that works

Honey and mustard mini sausages are nice. Cook cocktail sausages in oven for about 15-20 mins. Make a glaze of honey with wholegrain mustard. Pour over sausages and cook for further 5 mins. Eat with a cocktail stick. Can make in advanceas lovely eaten cold.

And little mincemeat parcels are tasty. Think you get pre made puff pastry, then roll out and put a small spoon of mincemeat in the middle . Make a little parcel then cook until pastry cooked.

I like the idea of the sausages.

I’m also in the midst of planning this. Going for all finger food as it’s just easier when people are milling around. This is current long list (copy pasted!) , will obviously cut it down.

Ideas for Christmas party food

• Star shaped cheese biscuits (plain cheese, cheese and seeds/chive, cheese and paprika
• Puff pastry spinach and cream cheese bites
• Mini quiches - broccoli and cheese, pesto/red pepper/feta?
• Brie and cranberry bites (puff or filo?)
• Cheese board
• Biscoff/Nutella puff pastry Christmas tree
• Smoked salmon pinwheels or canapés (Little toasts? Smoked salmon mouse/pâté on something? Filo with lemon cream and chive?)
• Mini potato skins/jacket potatoes
• Filo prawn cups with lime and chilli sour cream (garlic and chilli prawns)
• Caprese/antipasti on sticks - sun-dried tomato, olives, mozzarella, basil (tortellini?)
• Goats cheese, honey and walnut something? (Pear?)
• Tapenade and feta something?
• Sausage and mash on a stick (gravy to dip?)
• Mini pizza bites
• BBQ jackfruit/meatball mini sliders
• Bruschetta
• Mini cheese cake bites
• Christmas pudding rice crispy treats/cookies
• Sausage and stuffing rolls (Richmond veg sausage mixed with stuffing on puff)

A big ham a a couple of loaves of crusty bread is always the centrepiece of my buffet and is always the most popular bit.

I am doing a Christmas dinner for myself, my 2 DC and my brother and his partner on Christmas Day and I will be doing a buffet style meal on Boxing Day for the same people plus any friends that want to come over with their DC.

My buffet/party food plan is...

Finger sandwiches
Shelled tiger prawns and dips

Cheese board
Crackers and chutneys
Cold meats.. hams, salamis, prosciutto ect.
Home made sausage rolls
Voluvants (egg and cress, prawn & thousand island, corriander chicken curry)
Home made potatoe salad and coleslaw
Mini pigs in blankets
Crisps and dips
Fancy chocs
Roulade
Cake from local bakery

Might add a few more bits not sure yet.

Fresh apple and orange and maybe some j20’s will be available for children (and adults who won’t be drinking) and will have beers, Gins, mulled cider and baileys available if anyone fancies a drink.

Macaroni cheese in mini ramikins, potato salad, corn cobbettes, spring rolls, olives, mini sliders, fruit skewers.

@BuffaloCauliflower my brother did a puff pastry tree last year and it was fantastic! He did a savoury one though with pesto, feta and walnuts I think?

@TitaniaQueenOfTheFairies I usually take a big blob of dip on my plate

I would suggest puff pastry cocktail size vol au vents, but after a fruitless search in all local supermarkets last year, I rang JusRol, who very apologeticaly said they only sold them to stores like Costco, not to normal shops.
Very annoying as they were the perfect size for prawn mayonnaise and similar, the next size are too big and they didn't go soggy quickly like those little ready cooked pastry cups.
Theoretically I could make them myself with ready made pastry, but far too fiddly.

@TrickyD - I’ve had the same run around with cocktail size Vol au Vents, I’ve found them on this website but still much more expensive than the easy to get bigger ones www.ingredientsforcooks.co.uk/pastry/vol-au-vents-cocktail-x-60/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_5rtBRDxARIsAJfxvYAcbCu5bzubGEcAPrOgxH4nHowMY1Y-ZbdeLEVMri35B7D8ojEoBz4aAqOgEALw_wcB

Lots of lovely ideas, thank you. I am leaning towards finger food, as it's easier to eat I think. Would like some healthier options as well. Perhaps whipped avocado on blinis. Vol au vents, or puff pastry pinwheels would be nice. I have some shot glasses so maybe half filled with dip and crudités stick?

Lots of lovely ideas, thank you. I am leaning towards finger food, as it's easier to eat I think. Would like some healthier options as well. Perhaps whipped avocado on blinis. Vol au vents, or puff pastry pinwheels would be nice. I have some shot glasses so maybe half filled with dip and crudités sticks?

I will have a look in my Costco though, I helpfully have one really nearby

Vol au vents shells are easy to make if you make them square, as there is no wastage. I tend to make pinwheels with spinach, ricotta and Gruyere which I spread on puff, roll lengthways and cut discs. So easy and delicious!

Pinwheels are the easier way to go, but I find them harder to control!

@BuffaloCauliflower are you named after the M&S delicacy or do you make them yourself?

Mine will be
Coca cola ham
Crusty bread
Bruschetta
Sausage roll garland
Mini quiches
Chicken kebabs
Scotch eggs
Cornish crunch and cider cheesebake
Breaded prawns
Potato skins
Salad
Coleslaw
Selection of mini desserts

I'm not sure about a baked camembert for a buffet, it could cool very quickly, and then there's double dipping!

Devilled eggs are always popular and easy to do. You could serve gazpacho in your shot glasses.

The Bero website has probably got the cheese straw recipe you've lost.