Quick no-bake appetizer tree, for a scenic appetizer or starter that steals the show. Perfect on an elegant and refined table, a great idea for Christmas starters, but so beautiful and elegant that it’s suitable for any occasion, and if we have many guests, we can place more than one on the table and the table will look even more beautiful and elegant, with a touch of color that always wins everyone over. You can get creative to create new color compositions, using different vegetables, but also fruits, as well as cheeses, cured meats, pickled and preserved vegetables in oil. Keep in mind that to make a fairly large tree, you need a lot of ingredients, so you can alternate ingredients with different flavors and colors to create a nice contrast. Let’s see how to make the appetizer tree, perfect to make these festive days, but also for special occasions like birthday parties, dinners with friends.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 10
- Cooking methods: No-Bake
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas, All seasons
Appetizer Tree Ingredients
- 18 oz cherry tomatoes
- 18 oz fresh and smoked mozzarella balls
- 14 oz green and black olives
- 11 oz small salamis
- as needed rosemary
- 7 oz mushrooms in oil
Tools to prepare the appetizer tree
- 1 Metal cone 11.8 inch styrofoam
- 1 Plastic wrap
- 200 Toothpicks
Steps to prepare the quick and easy no-bake appetizer tree
Wrap the styrofoam cone with plastic wrap, covering it entirely. Then start making the appetizer tree, placing one ingredient on each toothpick and create the first row, placing it on the styrofoam in a spiral, ensuring the cone doesn’t fall as you place the other ingredients row by row, creating a pattern to alternate the colors.
You can start halfway up the cone with any of the ingredients. I washed and dried the cherry tomatoes and started with those. Meanwhile, I let the preserved vegetables and fresh mozzarella balls drain.
After creating the first spiral with the cherry tomatoes, I made the second with the olives and then the next with the mozzarella balls, proceeding like this, and in a few minutes, we will have arranged all the ingredients of our appetizer on the appetizer tree. You can also use salami ribbons or slices instead of small salamis.
Finally, I added sprigs of rosemary to cover any remaining gaps and to make the composition more elegant. I placed a cheese star on top, cut from a slice of cheese with a star-shaped cookie cutter. Prepare shortly before serving, or store in the fridge until serving time, even wrapped in plastic wrap.
It can also be enriched with hot preparations, such as fried olives, small meatballs, or rice croquettes, or puff pastry bites.
