I do love a good tasty canapé. For me, it’s a perfect morsel to pop into your mouth whilst enjoying a glass of chilled fizz!
Canapés make a great pre-dinner starter. Just that bit of something, to ‘put you on’, before heading to the table to tuck into the main meal – giving the designated cook a much needed bit of breathing space to crack on with stuff while your nicely preoccupied with something to graze on! And of course canapés are great to serve up over the festive period too…an ideal Christmas party nibble!
Last week I rustled up a little selection of canapés using Jus-roll gluten free puff pastry and I was over the moon with the results. And, not only did they look the business, but they tasted fab too! So of course, anything I’m rather chuffed with, has to be shared with you – that’s the deal.
These gluten free canapés are so, so easy to make. The hardest thing about them, is deciding what to top them with as there are so many options. My canapé planning could have been a bit better, as I realised that after I had bought all the ingredients to make them, I had gone a bit bonkers for cheese. So, to combat this I’ve also added some extra topping suggestions at the bottom of the page.
Method
To make enough canapes for 4-6 people you will need a pack of Jus-Rol gluten free puff pastry.
The Jus-Rol pastry comes pre-rolled and it’s best to take it out of the fridge about half an hour before you are going to use it, as it will unroll far better – I forgot to do this!
Unroll the pastry unto a clean worktop and prick it all over with a fork – this prevents the pastry rising too much and helps when you add the topping as you will have a flatter surface.
All you need to do then, is cut out the pastry, using either a square or round cutter (approx. 1.5inch square) or just use a sharp knife and cut the pastry into squares. It would be good to do it with a knife to be honest, as you can then use all the pastry in one go. I used a cutter on this occasion and then used the leftover pastry to make a giant Eccles cake. I just piled the pastry pieces on top of each other (don’t scrunch together puff pastry as you will lose the precious layers), before rolling it out and filling with a few sultanas, a knob of butter and a little sprinkle of light brown sugar. I then sealed the pastry, rolled it flat and brushed the top with a little milk and sprinkled plenty of brown sugar over the top and baked for about 20 minutes until golden brown.
Back to the canapés. Place the pastry pieces onto a baking tray and pop into a preheated oven 220C/425F/Gas 7/200C Fan. They take no time at all to bake, so do keep your eye on them. I baked mine for about 6-7 minutes until they were golden brown.
Remove the tray from the oven and allow to cool and then top as desired!
Here is what I topped mine with:
Philadelphia cheese, smoked salmon and dill
I piped the cream cheese onto the pastry bed. I used a plain nozzle in the piping bag which gave a neater finish, but you can just as easily use a couple of teaspoons or spread it on with a knife instead. Top the cream cheese with a square of smoked salmon and a little sprig of dill. Loved these canapes and discovered a new-found love for dill!
Creamy Lancashire cheese, *caramelised onion chutney and smoked bacon roll
Now this particular canapé was a bit of an accident, as the bacon was meant for a cranberry and brie variation, but there was a change of plan at the last minute.
To make this one, cut the required number of streaky bacon rashers in half and roll tightly. Pop the bacon rolls onto a baking tray and bake for about 10 minutes in a hot oven 220C/425F/Gas 7/200C Fan until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. The bacon can be cooked in advance and kept in the fridge until you need to assemble your canapés (up to 48hrs).
Spread a tiny bit of *chutney onto the pastry base and add a thin slice of cheese, top the cheese with a little more chutney and nestle the bacon roll on top.
Blue cheese, walnut and honey
Place a nice size piece of blue cheese onto the pastry base, top with half a *walnut and drizzle with honey.
Delighted how these looked with the sweet honey running onto the marble platter – made me feel a little bit cheffy!
Hummus, olives with a dusting of *sumac
Spoon a little hummus onto the pastry bed, decorate with olive halves and a little dusting of sumac.
As you can see these little gf puff pastry bites are the perfect vessel to top with your favourite things transforming them into delicious canapes, which look rather fancy too.
Loved telling you about the canapés I conjured up. I thought it was a perfect time to share the idea with you too, as you may fancy popping some together for your friends and family over the Christmas holiday. I generally cater all gluten free when we have people over. I find it much easier and don’t have to worry myself about cross contamination issues.
The canapés I made on this occasion were great eaten cold – but I have added a few more topping suggestions below and indicated when I think they would be better being served warm:
Pulled pork (serve warm)
Sliced *sausage and caramelised onion (serve warm)
Roast beef and *horseradish
*Pesto and parmesan (spread with pesto and sprinkle with parmesan before cooking – serve warm)
Roasted butternut squash, crumbled feta, honey, *pine nuts and chopped parsley (warm or cold)
Grilled goats cheese, with fig, finished with a drizzle of *balsamic glaze (warm)
Ham and *wholegrain mustard
Brie, *cranberry and bacon (brie and grape would be nice too)
Smoked *mackerel pate, with finely grated lemon rind and a tiny sprinkle of chopped parsley
And here are a couple of sweet suggestions:
Jam, fresh cream and *almond nibs
Lemon curd, fresh cream and *almond flakes
Cherry jam, fresh cream and topped with a cherry and decorated with *chocolate nibs
Hope you enjoyed checking out this post – if your thoughts are now on festive food you may fancy rustling up my gluten free raspberry and white chocolate trifle a gorgeous pud which would be lovely to serve up at Christmas!
For now,
Liz x
*Check this product out to ensure no gluten containing ingredients or ‘may contain’ or ‘not suitable’ warnings on the pack. If in doubt leave it out.
