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Party Time! 5 Fabulous Finger Foods for Fall

2009-11-05-FingerFoods.jpgThis time of year, we love throwing little gatherings at our house. They're really just an excuse to get people together, open a bottle of wine or two, and enjoy an evening of conversation. Rather than cooking a whole dinner, we like to offer several smaller bites for people to nibble. Here are a few you'll see on our table!

 
 

Our main goal with these finger foods is to make them easy to eat and silverware-free. We like that most of these can be eaten in a few bites while holding your wine in the other hand!

1. Mac and Cheese Cups - Simple and brilliant! Just make a regular batch of mac and cheese, and then scoop the pasta into muffin cups. Bake them just enough to help hold each one together and serve. (Get the Recipe: Food and Wine)

2. Tomato Soup Shooters with Grilled Cheese Soldiers - Who can resist this comfort food combination? Serve the soup in small tumblers with a crispy wedges of grilled cheese alongside. (Get the Recipe: 101 Cookbooks)

3. Mushrooms Stuffed with Brie - Stuffed mushrooms are one of our favorite classic finger foods, and we love the idea of melting a little dabs of brie cheese into the middle of each one. (Get the Recipe: Pioneer Woman Cooks)

4. Spaghetti Fritters - Noodle fritters are a little bit crispy on the outside and chewy in the middle. Just mix a few eggs with a bowl of spaghetti and some herbs, and drop handfuls into a hot skillet to quickly fry them. (Get the Recipe: Healthy Food Guide)

5. Maple Chocolate Pudding with Bacon Spoon - This is a simple idea with a big wow factor! Serve chocolate pudding in individual glasses with crispy pieces of bacon as the spoon. (Get the Recipe: Peace Love & Chocolate Blog)

What nibbles will you be featuring at your parties this fall?

Related: Born in the Fall? 8 Birthday Cakes Inspired By the Season

(Images, clockwise from top left: Ree Drummond/The Pioneer Woman; Healthy Food Guide; Katrina Markoff for Peace Love Chocolate/Vosges; Kana Okada for Food and Wine)

Tags

Recipe Roundup, Inspiration, Winter, Fall, appetizers, hors d'oeuvres, easy entertaining, finger foods, fall menu

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Comments (12)

Those spaghetti fritters are making me so hungry that I'm about to eat my hand.

posted by gourmandizzy on November 5th 2009 at 1:05pm
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Lovely ideas; thanks.

posted by Onepot on November 5th 2009 at 1:57pm
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They sound like they taste fantastic, but the presentation for the pudding and bacon dish is just a total turn off to me. I'm kind of grossed out by the bacon sticking out of the glass, also I wonder about putting it in a stemless wine glass that's so deep since I know I'd probably be nibbling the bacon with each bite and pretty soon I wouldn't be able to get down to the pudding.

posted by bonjourmiette on November 5th 2009 at 2:18pm
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Great ideas!

posted by rosebud on November 5th 2009 at 2:30pm
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Bonjourmiette - your observation about the deep glasses for the pudding is a good one, though I personally don't mind the way the bacon looks coming out of the glass. What about putting the pudding in small ramekins and laying a half-strip of bacon across the top?

posted by EmmaC on November 5th 2009 at 2:45pm
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you could put the pudding in a martini glass and somehow lay the bacon on top? It would be easier to get to I think

posted by RosyLips on November 5th 2009 at 4:26pm
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Oooh. Those mushrooms look absolutely amazing. And the mac-n-cheese looks yummy. My next cocktail party is getting planned!

posted by Ros on November 5th 2009 at 5:25pm
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The bacon/pudding thing looks disgusting!

posted by ricestein on November 6th 2009 at 10:46am
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that pudding with bacon idea is gros

posted by Drops of Jupiter on November 6th 2009 at 1:10pm
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*gross

posted by Drops of Jupiter on November 6th 2009 at 1:10pm
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I love bacon and chocolate and many of the bacon desserts seen lately are interesting to me, but this one seems both gross and too awkward to eat at a party.

It also reminds me of my parents being mad when i used bacon as a scoop for my grits growing up.

posted by percent on November 6th 2009 at 3:17pm
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I've made the mac and cheese cup recipe from Food and Wine before and they didn't hold up like little cups.

posted by philliesgirl on November 7th 2009 at 7:20am
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