Beautiful Spring Canapés

Name: Beautiful Spring Canapés
Prep time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Ingredients: ¾ cup kalamata olives (- pitted); 1 cup fresh basil leaves; 3 tbsp. parmesan cheese (- fresh-grated ); 3 tbsp. olive oil; 2 tsp. white balsamic vinegar; 2 tbsp. pine nuts (- or pumpkin seeds (pepitas)); 1 loaf butter bread (- or white bread ); 4 radishes (- small to medium); 8 multi-colored cherry tomatoes (- small); 1 cucumber (- small); 1 tbsp. capers; sprouts (- a small bunch); 8 chives; 8 slices prosciutto; 8 tsp. chive cream cheese

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These perfectly easy canapés can be made ahead of time, are served cold, and are simply perfect for a fancy Spring or Summer celebration! With homemade pesto, olive tapenade and chive cream cheese, you’ll create the most irresistible, colorful and gorgeous little gardens of roses and veggies on your appetizer tray!

They’re perfect for Easter, weddings, bridal showers, baby showers… just about any bright, colorful, happy affair!

A marble appetizer tray of 8 canapés in 3 different styles.

Contents hide

1 Why This Recipe is Special

2 Ingredient Notes

3 How to Make Them

4 A Few Common Questions:

5 A Few Tips!

6 Beautiful Spring Canapés

I made these precious canapés for a dinner party recently, and they were the stars of the evening! I prepped all my ingredients in about 15 minutes, and had the canapés all assembled in another 20 minutes!

This recipe calls for pea shoots to make the rose canapés, but you can also use regular sprouts! I used sprouts at my dinner party, and they just looked so pretty!

An appetizer tray of 24 canapés in 3 different styles.

Why This Recipe is Special

1. They’re perfect for vegans, vegetarians and meat-lovers – You have the tapenade canapés for vegans that contain no dairy or meat, you have the pesto canapés for vegetarians (as long as you use a vegetarian parmesan – did you know parmesan is not vegetarian?) and you have the prosciutto rose canapés for your meat-lover friends. Everybody’s happy!

2. People don’t believe their eyes when they see them – Just look at them! And my photos don’t even do them justice! I always love a recipe that doubles as a conversation piece.

3. All the bits and pieces can be prepared ahead of time and quickly assembled before the party – I prepped all of these ingredients in about 15 minutes and popped them in the refrigerator. Right before the party, it only took 20 minutes to have everything assembled.

Ingredient Notes

Prosciutto – Make sure to find prosciutto that’s separated with either wax paper or plastic. Slices easily stick to each other, so you won’t be able to cut it into neat strips if it’s not separated.

Pesto – You can substitute store-bought pesto… but don’t do it! Make your own instead! It’s 1000% better than anything you can get in the store, trust me. Store-bought pestos are often full of preservatives and are terribly oily. Fresh pesto is so dreamy and the texture is perfect for these canapés. It’s not oily at all. You’ll find the very simple recipe below.

Olive Tapenade – You actually can buy perfectly tasty olive tapenade in the store, instead of making it from scratch, but I’ll show you how to make it from scratch any way 😉

How to Make Them

2 numbered images showing how to make olive tapenade and fresh pesto in a food processor.

1. Make your olive tapenade. In a food processor, simply add ¾ cup of pitted kalamata olives and process for about 15-20 seconds. Watch it carefully. You don’t want it to be the consistency of pâté, It’s nice when it has a bit of texture.

2. Make your pesto. In a food processor, add 1 cup of fresh basil leaves (without stems), 3 tbsp. fresh-grated parmesan cheese, 3 tbsp. olive oil, 2 tsp. white balsamic vinegar and 2 tbsp. of pine nuts (or pepitas). Process until well-chopped and almost creamy. This should yield about 4 tbsp. of pesto. Make sure to cover your pesto while you prepare your other ingredients or it will start to dry out.

3. Make your bread base. Use a cookie cutter to cut perfect squares or circles out of each slice without the crusts. You’ll want to cut 24 perfect little pieces. Toast for 10 minutes at 250 F. (120 C.) You want them to be dried out a bit so they’re a little crunchy.

4. Chop your radishes. You’ll only require about 3-4 small-medium size radishes for all the canapés if you cut them into nice and slices as shown.

5. Slice your cherry tomatoes. You’ll only require about 8 cherry tomatoes. Choose the tiniest ones in the bunch and slice them nice and thin.

6. Slice your cucumber. You’ll only require about 4-5 slices of cucumber. Slice each piece into tiny slices, the same as your radishes.

A collage of 4 numbered images showing how to make canapés with small, chopped vegetables.

7. Create your pesto canapés. Add a small amount of pesto to the breads with a knife.

8. Top them carefully with your veggies and a few capers, and line them up on your tray.

9. Create your tapenade canapés. Add a nice helping of tapenade to the breads with a small spoon or knife.

10. Top them with veggies and a small chive and line them up on your tray.

A collage of 4 numbered images showing how to make a prosciutto rose canapé.

11. Make your beautiful rose canapés. Add a nice helping of chive cream cheese to the remaining breads.

12. Cut 1 slice of prosciutto in 4ths with kitchen scissors and fold a piece in half.

13. Roll into a rose. It might come undone a little once it’s rolled, but don’t worry. The cream cheese on the bread will hold it in place.

14. Place a rose in the center. Add a few sprouts to the side of the rose by pressing them into the cream cheese. Line them up on your tray.

A canapé with tiny cut vegetables and capers on a marble tray.

A Few Common Questions:

1. What’s the difference between a canapé and an hors d’œuvre?

A canapé is actually a type of hors d’œuvre that’s more than just an hors d’œuvre. It’s a multi-level appetizer consisting of a few special layers:

1. A base like bread, toast or a cracker
2. A spread like we’re making – tapenade, pesto, cream cheese, etc.
3. A topping like the tiny vegetables we’re going to add.
4. A garnish like an herb or even an edible flower.

Sometimes, it will even have an extra sauce of some kind on top like sour cream, a mustard, hot sauce – just something to add one more exciting pop of flavor on top of all the other exciting textures and flavors. Suffice it to say, it makes for a very entertaining bite.

2. How do I make these Canapés ahead of time?

They’re best when freshly assembled, but if you don’t have time to do that before guests arrive, assemble them up to 2 hours before the party and store them in a container with a secure lid in the fridge. You don’t want to make them any more than 2 hours in advance because the bread will start to become a bit soggy.

3. What do I need to make these Canapés?

1. Food processor
2. Cutting board
3. Sharp knife
4. Square or round cookie cutter

A Few Tips!

1. Use a very sharp, thin knife to cut your veggies.

The more precise you can cut your vegetables, the prettier they’ll look. A dull knife will make them look a bit sloppy, so sharpen your paring knife before you start!

2. Prep all the bits and pieces ahead of time to make your assembly faster

These canapés are tastiest (and prettiest) when they’re freshly assembled, so if you won’t have time to both prep and assemble before your guests arrive, make the tapenade and pesto ahead of time, storing them in containers with lids. The tapenade can be made a whole week ahead of time, and the pesto can also be made at least 3 days ahead of time, or frozen for up to 2 months!

Also make sure to chop your little veggies up to 12 hours in advance, too, and store them in a sealed container as well. Then, a half hour before your guests arrive, simply cut your bread with a cookie cutter and start assembling. Easy as pie!

A marble appetizer tray of 9 canapés in 3 different styles.

Do your best to contain your giggles and swooning as you place your gorgeous canapés on the appetizer tray. I have to admit, I was so enamored with these that I had to stop myself from staring at each new one I created, and keep going. I had them done just in the nick of time before my guests walked in the door!

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