How to Create Wedding Appetizers

Cut appetizers into unique shapes for a festive wedding.

Appetizers are useful at weddings to curb people's appetites before dinner or as an appetizer buffet for the entire reception. An afternoon wedding well before dinnertime will often serve appetizers in place of dinner. Appetizers add a sense of elegance to a formal affair and fill in during the long wait until the wedding party arrives. Appetizers from savory meatballs to sweet filled cream puffs are created to please everyone invited. Wedding appetizers should be as special as the day itself and follow the theme or style of the wedding.

Things You'll Need

• Food coloring
• Frosting
• Whipped cream
• Edible flowers
• Chocolate fountain
• White chocolate
• Food coloring gels or powders
• Garnishing tool kit
• Banquette bread
• Vegetables
• Herbs
• Spices
• Pesto sauce

Instructions

1. Dress up sweet appetizers with frosting, whipped cream or sugar that is tinted to the bride's colors. Start with heart-shaped sugar cookies, cream puffs and 1-inch squares of pound cake. Experiment with food coloring to get the correct color shade, such as two drops of red and three drops of blue to create purple. For a larger quantity of the same color, increase the amount of food coloring in proportion. Six drops of red would require nine drops of blue. Once your color is correct pipe colored frosting on cookies, fill cream puffs with tinted whipped cream, and dip cake squares in thinned, tinted frosting to create petit fours.

2. Add edible flowers to create a festive touch to wedding appetizers. Make sure the bride's flower choice is edible or choose a different flower for the appetizers. Nasturtiums, violets and many other flowers can garnish cream puffs or lay atop a small sandwich.

   Create a distinctive jelly with edible flowers. Boil 4 cups of water with 2 cups of sugar, and add 4 cups of washed and dried violets or other edible flowers. When cooled stir in one package of fruit pectin and allow 24 hours or more to set. Spoon over a plate of creamed cheese and serve with crackers.

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3. Tint chocolate to match the wedding party's colors. Chocolate fountains are a clever addition to an appetizer buffet. Guests can help themselves to an array of fruit and dippers. White chocolate can be tinted with powder or gel food coloring, not liquid food coloring. Liquid changes the consistency of the chocolate and could keep the chocolate fountain from flowing properly. Add small amounts of food coloring to the chocolate as you pre-melt for the fountain. More coloring can be added it the tint is not dark enough. Cut strawberries, bananas, and apple slices for dipping. Marshmallows, squares of angel food cake, graham cracker sticks, and pretzels dip well.

4. Purchase garnishing tools which are available in kits at houseware departments and kitchen specialty stores. Various tools are used to turn regularly shaped fruits, vegetables, breads or other appetizers into hearts, stars, flowers and coils. Cut the shapes and create useful centerpieces by arranging the shapes together and holding them in place with festive toothpicks. Skewer fruit chunks cut into heart shapes onto long kabob skewers and poke the sharp end into a pineapple. Surround the pineapple with more fruit for guests to skewer on kabob sticks themselves.

5. Slice banquette bread and create wedding appetizers with a Spanish flair called tapa. Mix 4 cups of chopped tomato with 1 large chopped onion, 1 large chopped red pepper, 1 tbsp. minced garlic, and 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro to create fresh bruschetta. Spread each slice of bread with prepared pesto sauce and a spoonful of bruschetta. Many other ingredients can be added to the bruschetta for variety; for instance, fresh shrimp, mushrooms, anchovies, avocado.

References

• Temple of Thai: Fruit Carving, Book & Tool Set
• Baking 911: Chocolate Tinting
• What's Cooking America: Edible Flowers