Recipes for a finger food buffet

A finger food buffet is not just a good idea for a children's birthday party. Even when adults come over and you want to sit together comfortably for the whole evening, such small snacks are a hit. Admittedly, it is a bit time-consuming to prepare all these little snacks. But when you are sitting together so comfortably and can keep eating small bites, it is something quite nice. Here I have put together my favorites for a finger food menu:

Recipes for a finger food buffet

Recipe for Meat Patties

Ingredients:

• 500 g ground meat
• 1 bread roll
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 pinch of pepper
• 3 tsp paprika powder, sweet
• some oil for frying
• Ovenproof dish

Instructions:

Soak the bread roll in a bowl with lukewarm water for 30 minutes. Then put it in a sieve, squeeze it out, and tear it apart. I pass the bread roll through very finely with a hand blender. Preheat the oven to 180° C top and bottom heat. Sauté the onion in 1 tbsp oil until translucent and let it cool down a little. Now mix the minced meat, the egg, the bread roll, the onion, and all the spices in a bowl. Form small meat patties with moistened hands and fry them briefly and vigorously on both sides in a pan with a little oil. Place the patties in an ovenproof dish and finish baking in the oven at 180° C for approx. 15 minutes.

The patties can be served both warm and cold.

Extra tip:Decorate the patties with skewers and colorful vegetables, such as olives, pearl onions, carrot slices, and cucumber slices.

Savory puff pastry pockets

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg. puff pastry
• 100 g ham or bacon
• 2 tbsp sour cream (alternatively, cream cheese also works well)
• 100 g cheese (grated)
• 2 pcs. spring onions or regular onions (finely chopped)
• 1 pc. egg white
• Salt, pepper
• 1 1/2 tsp marjoram (or spice of your choice)
• possibly 1 egg for brushing

Instructions:

Take the puff pastry out of the refrigerator about 5 minutes before processing. Let frozen puff pastry thaw. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees convection or 220° top and bottom heat, and roll out the puff pastry on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Mix all ingredients well in a bowl and spread the filling over the puff pastry. Leave the edges free. I filled 2 puff pastries with this recipe. Now roll up the puff pastry on the long side and place it in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes. This makes the dough easier to cut into thin slices. Now cut approx. 2 cm thick slices from the puff pastry and place them on the parchment paper. Make sure there is enough space between them, as the puff pastry will rise nicely. If you like, you can brush the snails with a beaten egg, which will give them an even nicer color.

Bake the puff pastry snails for about 15 minutes (regardless of whether using top and bottom heat or convection) until they have a nice browning.

Cheese balls

Ingredients:

• 200 g herb cream cheese
• 100 g ham
• 100 g Emmental, grated
• 150 g sesame seeds
• Salt & pepper
• small skewers or toothpicks

Instructions:

Cut the ham into small cubes and grate the Emmental coarsely. Mix the cream cheese, ham, and Emmental well and season with salt and pepper. Form the mixture into small balls and roll them in a bowl with sesame seeds. Chill the cheese balls for at least 1 hour.

Skewer with toothpicks or nice colorful skewers and place on a nice platter.

Extra tip:These cheese balls are also ideal for a picnic.

Photo by Sabine, meinhaushalt.at

Cucumber-salmon bites

Ingredients: 

• 300 g double cream cheese
• 300 g smoked salmon
• 1 tbsp quark
• 1 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp dill
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Salt & pepper
• 1 cucumber
• possibly 1 bell pepper
• small skewers or toothpicks

Instructions:

Stir the double cream cheese until smooth and cut the salmon into small cubes. Now add the salmon, quark, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and spices to the cream cheese and mix well.

Cut the washed cucumber into thicker slices and place them next to each other on a nice platter. Now put approx. 1 tsp of the cheese-salmon mixture on each cucumber slice. If you like, you can sprinkle these with small bell pepper cubes and/or dill.

For easier handling, small toothpicks or colorful skewers can be stuck into the bites.

Extra tip:The cheese-salmon mixture can easily be prepared the day before. However, only put the mixture on the cucumber shortly before serving.

Prosciutto with melon

Ingredients:

• Sweet melon
• Prosciutto

Instructions:

This really very good dish is prepared in no time. To do this, peel the sugar melon and cut it into bite-sized pieces. Tear the prosciutto into smaller pieces. Arrange the melon and prosciutto in a nice bowl.

Extra tip:If you like, you can also prepare the pieces with skewers.

Tomato-mozzarella skewers

Ingredients:

• 300 g small mozzarella balls
• 300 g small cherry tomatoes
• a little mayonnaise
• 1 disposable syringe
• small skewers or toothpicks

Instructions:

Halve the cherry tomatoes and remove the inside. Cut the mozzarella balls flat on one side so that they can be stood up well. Now place the tomato cap on the mozzarella ball and fix it with a skewer or toothpick.

Stand the skewer up on a nice platter. Inject the mayonnaise into the disposable syringe and use it to decorate the mushrooms like toadstools.

Extra tip:If you don't want to use mozzarella, you can also use hard-boiled eggs and larger tomato halves.

Melon and ham

Ingredients:

• Honeydew melon
• Prosciutto, ham, or bacon
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• small skewers

Instructions:

Halve the melon, remove the seeds, and remove the peel. Cut the pieces into small bite-sized cubes. Cut the prosciutto or bacon into fine, thin slices. Distribute the melon pieces and the ham on a platter and decorate with rosemary.

If you like, you can also insert skewers into the melon pieces beforehand.

Extra tip:The melon can also be cut into small wedges (without peel), drape the bacon on top, and provide with a skewer.

Pizza muffins

Ingredients:

• 140 g flour
• 120 g whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp pizza seasoning
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 onion
• 125 g mozzarella
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 40 g Parmesan
• 100 g salami
• 1 egg
• 50 ml olive oil
• 200 g buttermilk
• 110 g strained tomatoes

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180° C top and bottom heat and grease the muffin tin with oil. Cut the bell pepper and onion into small cubes. Also cut the mozzarella and salami into small cubes. Finely grate the Parmesan and press the garlic finely in a garlic press. Put the whole wheat flour, flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pizza seasoning in a bowl and mix. Now add the Parmesan, mozzarella, bell pepper, onion, garlic and salami and mix everything well so that everything is coated with flour. In another bowl, mix the egg, oil, buttermilk and strained tomatoes. Now add the flour mixture and mix everything well. Fill the wells of the muffin tin with the batter and bake in the oven at 180° for 20 to 25 minutes.

As a side dish, I recommend a salad or sauces.

Recipe pizza rolls

Ingredients:

• 1 package pizza dough or homemade pizza dough
• 1 can strained tomatoes
• 6 slices of ham
• 1 pkg. pizza cheese
• 1 can corn
• 1 pinch pizza seasoning

Instructions:

Line the baking tray with baking paper (note: do not use aluminum foil; the pizza dough will stick to it). Roll out the pizza dough on a board and spread with the tomato sauce. Leave about 5 cm free at the ends of the wide side so that you can seal the ends well after rolling it up. Now distribute the ingredients on top: ham, cheese, corn and the spices. Roll up from the wide side into a roulade and place in a container for the freezer. Leave the roll in the freezer for about 45 minutes. Then cut into slices about 3 cm thick on a board with a sharp knife and place on the baking tray.

Unfortunately, the rolls fall apart when cutting, but you can patch them back together very well. Bake in the oven at 180 °C top and bottom heat for about 10 minutes. This recipe can be varied wonderfully. You can also use puff pastry here, which also tastes very good. You can use all kinds of things for the topping: olives, spinach, salami, tuna, and when it comes to cheese, anything from feta cheese to Gorgonzola can be used. There should not be too many ingredients, and large ingredients should always be chopped small. Furthermore, the ingredients should always be well drained, otherwise the dough will become watery and will not roll well.

Recipe Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 1 pack of large mushrooms
• 1 onion
• 100 g Gorgonzola
• 2 slices of toast
• 3 tbsp cooking oil

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 180 °C. First, clean the mushrooms and remove the stems. Do not clean the mushrooms under running water, but use a paper towel to simply wipe away coarse dirt.Why? If you put the mushrooms in water, they soak up the liquid and become soggy. Result: the mushrooms lose their flavor.

Cut the onion, the mushroom stems, the toast, and the Gorgonzola into small pieces.

Now heat a little oil in a pan and add the finely chopped onion and mushroom stems and sauté them. Then add the diced Gorgonzola cheese and the toast. Once a firm mass gradually forms in the pan, it can be filled into the mushrooms.

Now just let the mushrooms at 180° top and bottom heat for about 15 minuteslet it get crispy.

Photo by Janine, meinhaushalt.at

Pigs in a blanket

Ingredients:

• 1 package of puff pastry
• Sausages
• Processed cheese, horseradish, or mustard
• 1 egg yolk

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 200 °C. Roll out the puff pastry and, depending on your taste, spread a nice layer of processed cheese, horseradish, or mustard on the dough before inserting the sausage. Then roll the sausage well into the dough, score it two to three times with a sharp knife, and possibly brush with a little egg yolk.

The sausage in a blanket is now placed on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. It is best to place the dough seam downwards, as otherwise there is too great a risk that the dough will unroll by itself when rising. The tray is now placed on the middle rack in the preheated oven. At 200° top and bottom heat, the sausages need between15-20 minutes, depending on the desired degree of browning.

Extra tip: you can also add a little grated cheese to the dough before baking. The cheese crust is simply brilliant. Herbs or sesame seeds as well as other grains also provide variety and taste simply excellent.

potato pancakes

Ingredients:

• 6-8 potatoes (depending on the number of people)
• 1 onion
• 1 egg
• 100 g flour (varies depending on the amount of potatoes)
• Salt & pepper
• Highlights like radishes, tomatoes, bacon cubes

Instructions:

For this, wash, peel, and wash the vegetables again. Then the vegetables are shredded in a food processor. Alternatively, a kitchen grater is also suitable.

Many ingredients are suitable as further highlights – so anyone who wants to spice up their potato pancakes a little can feel free to be creative. Whether oatmeal, bacon cubes, garlic, radishes, zucchini, or tomatoes – there are hardly any limits to the possibilities for refining potato pancakes, and whatever tastes good is allowed. In Ukraine, hash browns or potato pancakes are also popular topped with meat, ham, cheese, or mushrooms.

After grating the vegetables, add the egg, flour, and spices. If the potato pancake batter is still too sticky, a little more flour must be added. When a good consistency develops, the batter is ready.

Now, a pan is heated well with fat. The potato pancakes are placed in the pan in palm-sized portions over medium heat, flattened slightly with a spatula, and fried until golden brown.Important: do not use too little fat; feel free to let the pancakes swim a little.Trick:after frying, let the potato pancakes drain on a paper towel.

After draining, you can serve the hash browns or keep them warm in the oven. In the latter case, however, it is important not to cover the hash browns: the steam will quickly make the potato pancakes soggy.

Extra tip:Applesauce is extremely popular as a side dish and topping, but sauerkraut, quark, or salmon are also highly sought after.

Photo by Janine, meinhaushalt.at

Stuffed eggs

Ingredients:

• 4 hard-boiled eggs
• 2 tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp mustard
• 1 pinch of curry powder
• 1 pinch of pepper
• pinch of salt

Instructions:

 

Hard-boil the eggs for 8 minutes and rinse with cold water. Cut the eggs in half and place the yolks in a bowl. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl as well and mix well with the yolks. Mash the yolks a little with a fork so that it forms a smooth mixture.

Arrange the egg white halves on a platter and fill them with the yolk mixture using a spoon.

Extra tip: The deviled eggs can be garnished with a little caviar, pollock roe from a jar, or parsley.

Corn on the cob with lemon butter

Ingredients:

• 1 untreated lemon
• 1/2 bunch of parsley or frozen parsley
• 4 tbsp soft butter
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• 4 corn on the cob
• 8 toothpicks

Instructions:

Remove the outer leaves and silk from the corn on the cob, leave the tender leaves on. Bring the water with 1 tsp of sugar to a boil in a large pot. Very important here: do not cook with salt, as this makes the kernels hard. When the water is boiling, cook the corn on the cob for about 10 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of the cobs.

In the meantime, mix the lemon butter. Rinse the lemon with hot water, grate the zest and squeeze the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Wash the parsley, shake it dry and chop it finely. I always put the butter in the microwave for a few seconds so it gets nice and soft. Now mix the butter with the parsley, 1 tbsp of lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper.

When the corn cobs are nice and dark yellow and soft, take them out, remove the remaining threads and leaves, and it is best to halve or third them with a sharp knife. Insert a toothpick into the side of each and spread the lemon butter on the corn.

Small hamburgers

Ingredients:

• small hamburger buns, approx. 4 pcs. per person
• 400 g ground beef
• Iceberg lettuce
• Cocktail tomatoes
• small onion
• Mayonnaise or mustard
• Cheese
• Pickles
• Tomato ketchup
• Salt & pepper

Instructions:

For a hamburger, season the minced meat with a little salt and pepper, form into small, flat patties, and fry evenly in a large pan with a little oil. Shortly before the end of frying, a slice of cheese is placed on the patty. Now the cheese can melt nicely, so that the aroma comes into its own even better.

Meanwhile, the hamburger buns are briefly toasted in the preheated oven and then the bottom of the bun is spread with a little mayonnaise or mustard. On top of this, place the finely shredded iceberg lettuce slices, a few strips of onions, and now, of course, the still-hot minced meat patty.

Finally, a pickled cucumber, a thin slice of a cherry tomato, and classically a dollop of tomato ketchup are added as a topping before the bun lid completes it. For easier handling, stick a skewer into the hamburger and serve on a nice platter.

Extra tip:If you only found the large buns, you can prepare them as above and cut them into halves or quarters afterwards and skewer them with skewers as well.

Photo by Janine, meinhaushalt.at

Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• Beef tomatoes (2 per person)
• Feta cheese, cut into cubes
• 5 tbsp mayonnaise
• 100 g Lyoner sausage
• 2 large pickles
• Salt & pepper

Instructions:

For the stuffed tomatoes, wash and clean the hand-sized beef tomatoes and carefully remove the lid with a sufficiently sharp knife. Now you can remove the inside with a spoon.

The watery part of the tomato is discarded; larger, meatier parts can be placed in a separate bowl. Add 5 tablespoons of mayonnaise, Lyoner sausage cut into strips, diced gherkins, pieces of feta, as well as salt and pepper. Mix everything well and then carefully fill into the hollow tomatoes with a small spoon.

If you like, you can finally put the tomato lids back on the tomato baskets for decoration or simply sprinkle with parsley as a topping.

Photo by Janine, meinhaushalt.at

Onion rings

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 250ml milk
• 500g flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• Plenty of vegetable oil
• 4 large onions or sweet onions
• Salt

Instructions:

Eggs and milk are whisked in a bowl; in another bowl, flour and baking powder are mixed. The oil is poured generously into a pot and heated strongly. Enough oil should be used so that the onion rings can float.

Now the finely cut onion rings are first dipped into the egg mixture and then into the flour.

Then bake the onion rings in the very hot oil for approx. 3 minutes until golden yellow and place them on a paper towel to drain using a slotted spoon. Finally, sprinkle with salt – done.

Extra info:The kick for crispy onion rings comes from dipping them in the flour at the end!

Stuffed rolls

Ingredients:

• Bread rolls (plan for 1-2 pieces per person)
• Eggs (1 per bread roll)
• 250 g fresh mushrooms
• 200 g boiled ham
• 1 large onion
• Salt & pepper
• Chives
• Parsley
• Oil

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 160 °C.

Whether you use frozen or fresh bread rolls for the stuffed rolls does not play a major role. Frozen rolls should be thawed, fresh rolls can be used immediately. Simply place the roll on the work surface in front of you and cut off a cap, just enough so that you can fill the roll. Furthermore, you should hollow out the bread so that there is plenty of room for the filling.

For the filling, fresh mushrooms, onions, and boiled ham were used here. Peel the onions, cut them into fine cubes, and sauté them in a little oil in a pan until translucent, then add the diced boiled ham. In the meantime, clean the mushrooms (do not wash them so that they do not absorb too much water) and slice them. Add the mushrooms to the pan as well and let them cook slightly.

Now distribute the pan contents into the buns and place the breads on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Now comes the exciting moment: an egg is carefully placed into each bun, which is then seasoned with salt and pepper and perhaps garnished with chives or parsley. Tip: if you are unsure about cracking the eggs, you can crack them into a cup beforehand and fish out any eggshells.

Now the buns go into the oven at 160° Celsius top and bottom heat for approx. 10-15 minutes. Then serve the stuffed buns immediately and enjoy.

Of course, you can design the stuffed bread rolls in various ways. The egg in the bread is usually the highlight, so the bottom filling is often swapped out. From cream cheese and grated cheese to minced meat fillings, there are plenty of possibilities. Simply test it out, try it, and enjoy.

Photo by Janine, meinhaushalt.at

Pizza Faces

Ingredients:

• 350 g spelt flour
• 1/2 cube of yeast
• 1 pinch of salt
• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 200 ml lukewarm water
• Corn
• Zucchini slices
• Tomato slices
• Meat sausage or salami
• 1/2 can of chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
• Pizza cheese

Instructions:

For the yeast dough, mix the flour with the crumbled yeast, fold in the lukewarm water, and add the salt and oil.

The dough is processed into a smooth mass, then left to rise covered for half an hour until it has visibly increased in size.

Preheat the oven to 200 °C top and bottom heat.

Now dust the dough with a little flour, knead briefly and form into eight small pizza bases. Now mix the chopped tomatoes with the ketchup and spread evenly on the pizza, using tomato slices, zucchini, bologna sausage, grated cheese or mushrooms to conjure up faces according to taste and imagination. For example, olive slices are suitable as eyes, cheese as hair and beard or mushroom heads as noses.

Then place the pizza faces on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake at 200° for about 15 minutes.

Extra tip: WAnyone who doesn't have time to prepare a yeast dough can just as well use the ready-made pizza dough from the supermarket's refrigerated section.

Photo by Janine, meinhaushalt.at

Baked Emmental

Ingredients:

• 400 g Emmental
• 100 g flour
• 2 eggs
• 100 g breadcrumbs
• Salt, pepper
• possibly paprika powder
• Sunflower oil

Instructions:

To prevent baked Emmental from running out, place it in the freezer for about 15 minutes before breading. Then cut the cheese into approx. 1 cm thick slices or cut out circles. Depending on your taste, you can sprinkle the cheese with paprika powder and pepper. Now comes the breading: first turn in flour, then pull through the beaten eggs, and finally bread well on all sides with breadcrumbs. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the Emmental in the pan until crispy. Let the oil drain well on a paper towel and serve with a dip.

Red-Yellow-Green Sticks

Ingredients:

• Extrawurst
• Butterkäse cheese
• Pickles

Instructions:

For my sticks, I cut Extrawurst sausage, Butterkäse cheese and pickles into small cubes and skewered them in the following order: always the sausage first, then the cheese and finally the pickle.

Extra tip:Arrange the sticks nicely, e.g., on a Party Mushroom nicely arrange.

Tomato-Mozzarella Sticks

Ingredients:

• Cocktail tomatoes
• small mozzarella balls
• possibly basil leaves

Instructions:

For these sticks, use small cherry tomatoes and cut the mozzarella into small cubes. It is best to always skewer the cherry tomato first and then the mozzarella. If you like, you can also add a basil leaf before the mozzarella. In my experience, children usually take that off.

Extra tip:Spread a little green pesto on the mozzarella – it tastes delicious. But it will certainly be viewed skeptically by children, so it is better to prepare it separately for the adults.

Extra tip:Arrange the sticks nicely, e.g., on a Party Mushroom nicely arrange.

Snack board salty or sweet

You can find ideas for a snack board here:Ideas for a snack board – finger food

Read also: Decorations for cold platters for parties

Remaining photos by Sabine, meinhaushalt.at