Smoked Salmon Canapes

New Years Eve may be over, but I still have a bit of a backlog of fancy hors d'oeuvres and great finger food recipes that have yet to be posted across my 3 blogs. Whoops!

Today’s recipe is my low carb and gluten free version of an easy french appetizer - cream cheese canapes.

Canapes are a simple appetizer: little bites consisting of a bread or pastry base - usually a cut up slice of bread, rye bread triangles, mini toasts, and/or Melba toast - topped with ... something.

Cheese, meats, a spread, a fancy piece of vegetable or herb, a combination of the any of those... they can be pretty free form.

They just have to be a small bite, really.

You’ll generally see them at special occasions, often as passed hors d’oeuvres at a cocktail party, or served in the hours before a dinner party - or even Christmas dinner, or a special Sunday brunch. (Like Easter).

I’ve always loved smoked salmon canapés, in particular - the combination of cream cheese and salmon makes for a perfect bite, with great contrasts in textures and flavours.

My salmon canapes recipe is a more diet friendly - and allergy friendly! - version of traditional fish canapés.

Rather than use a bread base, I use cucumber slices.

Topped off with a flavourful cream cheese mixture and some smoked salmon, it’s not only an easy appetizer, it’s the perfect appetizer when dealing with gluten allergies and a need for lower carb alternatives.

I love it when a recipe is tasty for all, while also being inclusive of an individual’s dietary needs, and keto finger foods are a great way to do that!

This may be a ridiculously easy to make, but serve it up with a nice white wine - or sparking wine - and it feels a lot fancier than it has any right to be!

Bon appétit!

Ingredients

This recipe uses only a few simple ingredients that should be easy to find at most grocery stores. A few notes for you:

Smoked Salmon

While hot-smoked salmon - like my Hot Smoked Sockeye Salmon Recipe is fantastic, you’re going to want to use cold-smoked salmon fillets for this.

Hot smoked salmon is a cooked salmon, with the expected flaky texture. It could definitely be tasty on a canape, but not really as elegant.

Cold smoked salmon is cured, rather than cooked. This gives it a completely different texture - silky and pliable, rather than flaky.

You can generally find good quality smoked salmon on cards or in fancy boxes in the fish section of larger grocery stores.

Cream Cheese

I like to use a full fat cream cheese - plain cream cheese - softened to room temperature so it’s easy to mix - and pipe.

While crème fraîche is popular for salmon appetizers, it’s not really sturdy and won’t really hold its shape if piped.

So, aside from Neufchatel (generally higher carb), there aren’t really any good substitutions for the cream cheese in this recipe, IMHO.

Fresh Herbs

I use both fresh dill and fresh chives, both in the flavored cream cheese and sometimes some additional fresh dill sprigs as garnish.

If you have to substitute dried, I’d go with half as much, and let the cream cheese chill before using, to let the flavour come out more.

Everything Else

Rounding out the recipe, you will need:

English Cucumbers
Fresh garlic cloves
Lemon zest
Salt and black pepper

Optionally, consider having some lemon slices, capers, or dill for garnish.

How to Make Smoked Salmon Canapes

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through.

Use a sharp knife to slice cucumbers into rounds - I like to aim for about ¼" thick, on a bit of a diagonal.

Blot slices with a paper towel to remove excess moisture (this will help prevent the cheese from sliding right off!), set aside.

In a small bowl, beat softened cream cheese spread until smooth.

Add dill, chives, garlic, and lemon zest to the cream cheese.

Stir well to combine cream cheese with the added ingredients, then, season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Separate smoked salmon into slices, slice into long salmon slices.

Place a piece of salmon on top of the cream cheese topped cucumber slices.

Note: You can make the cream cheese mixture ahead of time - and store it in an airtight container in the fridge.

Just know that room temperature cream cheese - or even warmer - is going to be a lot easier to work with, so you’ll want to heat it up a bit before piping it out.

More Keto Finger Foods

Looking for more low carb finger foods to serve at your next party, or bring to a potluck? Here are a few more ideas for you!

Antipasto Skewers
Armadillo Eggs
Bacon Wrapped Chicken Livers
Cucumber Shrimp Canapes
Greek Salad Skewers
Mojito Fruit Dip with Berry Skewers
Mozzarella Sticks
Muffaletta Skewers
Mushroom Turnovers
Pepperoni Chips
Potstickers
Pumpkin Fat Bombs
Sauerkraut Buns
Smoked Jalapeno Poppers
Stuffed Grape Leaves

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