Description
Delight your guests with these festive Christmas Smoked Salmon Crostini, featuring crispy baguette slices topped with a creamy dill and lemon-infused cream cheese, savory smoked salmon, and a garnish of capers and fresh dill. Perfect as an elegant appetizer for holiday gatherings.
Ingredients
Scale
Crostini
- 1-2 baguettes, enough to get about 30-35 ¼th inch slices
- Olive oil spray
Cream Cheese Mixture
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened (not melted)
- 1 small lemon, juiced
- 2 tablespoon fresh dill, chopped
- 1 fresh garlic clove, crushed
- Salt, to taste
- Freshly cracked black pepper, to taste
Toppings and Garnish
- 8 oz cold smoked salmon
- Capers, for garnish
- Fresh dill sprigs, for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit to prepare for baking the baguette slices.
- Slice Baguette: Cut the baguette into ¼th to ½ inch slices to yield approximately 30 to 35 slices and arrange these slices evenly on a baking sheet.
- Apply Olive Oil: Lightly spray both sides of the baguette slices with olive oil spray to ensure golden crispiness.
- Bake Crostini: Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven and bake for about 9 minutes, flipping the slices halfway through baking until they are golden and crisp.
- Cool Crostini: Remove the crostini from the oven and set them aside to cool completely before assembling.
- Prepare Cream Cheese Mixture: In a medium mixing bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, chopped dill, lemon juice, crushed garlic, salt, and freshly cracked black pepper. Mix thoroughly until well blended.
- Optional Piping Bag: For a neat presentation, spoon the cream cheese mixture into a piping bag and set aside until needed.
- Assemble Crostini: Once cooled, arrange the crostini slices on a serving platter. Place one slice of smoked salmon on each crostini.
- Add Cream Cheese Dollop: Using the piping bag, pipe a small dollop of the cream cheese mixture on top of each slice of salmon for an elegant finish.
- Garnish and Serve: Garnish each crostini with a few capers and a sprig of fresh dill. Serve immediately and enjoy your festive appetizer.
Notes
- Use pre-sliced baguettes to save preparation time if available.
- If you don’t have a piping bag, a small spoon works well to evenly distribute the cream cheese mixture.
- To make the crostini extra crispy, you can toast them slightly longer carefully watching to avoid burning.
- Substitute fresh dill with dried dill if fresh is unavailable, but reduce quantity to one tablespoon as dried herbs are more concentrated.
- Store any leftover cream cheese mixture tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 crostini
- Calories: 85 kcal
- Sugar: 0.5 g
- Sodium: 240 mg
- Fat: 5 g
- Saturated Fat: 2.5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 2 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 7 g
- Fiber: 0.5 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 15 mg
