Tomato and cream cheese Santa hat recipe

Gimmicky and great – these tomato and cream cheese Santa hat canapés bring that extra nod to Christmas to any drinks party!

Our adorable no-cook tomato and cream cheese Santa hats make an effortless festive canapé that tastes delicious too. The perfect nibble in the build up to the big day or as part of your Christmas spread, we promise these Santa hat canapés taste as great as they look. You could even serve them in your children’s lunchbox in the run up to Christmas or let them assemble their own afternoon snack. We’ve used a plain cream cheese and flavoured it with basil but you could use a ready-flavoured alternative like Boursin if you prefer. We’ve used ready-made crackers but our cheese biscuits would also be delicious for an extra hit of flavour.

Ingredients

• Pack of Philadelphia cream cheese
• 1/2tsp whole milk
• 1/2tsp olive oil
• 5 basil leaves
• 16 cherry tomatoes – Roma, Santini or any other long shape
• 16 crackers – we love Peter’s Yard Original Sourdough Crispbread

Method

1. Blitz or whip the pack of cream cheese, whole milk, olive oil and basil until smooth. Season well with black pepper.
2. Cut the tips off the tomatoes so that they can stand up straight. Set these aside to use for garnish or mix through a salad to serve on the side.
3. Spread approximately 1/2tsp of the cream cheese mixture in the centre of each cracker. Top with a tomato and finish with an additional ‘bobble’ of cream cheese. You might find it easier to pipe this or use the tip of a spoon handle.