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One of my favorite ways to celebrate the Christmas holiday is to have my family over to spend time together. Christmas Eve is our big celebration at my house and I always have a table full of appetizers. I don’t just do parties a little bit. I go all out and make as many appetizers as I can. We then enjoy the leftovers as we lounge around on Christmas Day (because nobody really feels like cooking after all the work of the holidays has ended in ten minutes of unwrapping frenzy).
If you do any entertaining over the holidays you’ll want to make this fun Christmas tree shaped appetizer. I love cucumber bites but I decided to change them up a bit after having a gyro for lunch one day and wanted to make the topping for them taste somewhat like the tzatziki sauce I love. To do so, I added dill and feta cheese in to try to recreate the flavor. You could always add in some ranch mix instead of the dill and feta cheese if you’d rather.
Since I was making this recipe for the first time it was a bit of trial and error trying to get the thickness right. The texture of the creamy mixture on top should be similar to the texture of frosting. You don’t want it to be thin and runny. I think I nailed it after making a couple of adjustments.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup of Dannon All Natural Plain Yogurt
- 8 ounces of cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons of feta cheese
- 4 sprigs of dill
- 1 teaspoon of garlic
- 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
- 4 cucumbers
- 1 pint of cherry tomatoes
- Brick of cheese (optional for star on tree)
- Crackers (optional for trunk of tree)
To start you will want to add your yogurt, cream cheese, feta cheese, dill, garlic and lemon juice into the cup of your food processor and blend until you have a thick, creamy consistency.
Once you have your topping you’ll want to cut your cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. Before cutting your cucumbers you can use a vegetable peel to take the skin off or you can leave it on. Cucumbers should be sliced about an inch thick and cherry tomatoes should be cut in half. Set aside the tomatoes and place the cucumber slices on your tray to look like a Christmas tree. You may need more than one platter if you have smaller sized trays.
To top the cucumbers I put the cream filling in a frosting decorator tube with a frosting tip but a piping bag works just as well. If you don’t have either of those you can always use a plastic sandwich sized bag and just cut one of the corners off to squeeze the topping through. I liked how fancy they looked with the special tip and I wanted to get some use out of the frosting decorator that I had discovered as I was cleaning out my pantry this week.
Once the cream mixture is on the cucumbers you’ll want to top each one with a piece of tomato.
The last step is to add the “trunk” of the tree and the star. Both are optional but I thought they really made things look festive. To make the trunk of the tree I stacked crackers on the tray and for the star I used a cookie cutter to cut a star out of a brick of cheese.
I love how my Christmas “tree” turned out and I know my guests will love eating these appetizer bites.
As I shared a couple weeks ago, I love using Dannon All Natural Plain Yogurt in my recipes because it’s made with only natural ingredients. While it can be enjoyed on it’s own, I often use it as a cooking substitute in recipes. Many recipes for these cucumber bites use other ingredients like sour cream or mayo but I chose to make mine with yogurt to make it a bit healthier. Yogurt is also a great base for any dips you may be making this holiday season!
 
You can find Dannon brand yogurt at your local Meijer store.
Will you be entertaining in your home over the next few weeks? If so, what kind of appetizers do you set out for your guests?
OK- so I love your hack of cooking on Christmas Eve and then snacking on Christmas Day. I need to incorporate that! :) #client
That is such a cute tray. I love the flavors, and setting it up to look like a Christmas tree really adds to the holiday charm.
Oh that’s such a cute idea! Looks like a festive and yummy holiday appetizer.
What a nice and refreshing appetizer! I think this would go well with a bunch of other appetizers. Sometimes you just want something crisp and refreshing and not full of fat.
This is such a cute idea for an appetizer for a holiday party! I love finding holiday snacks that are actually healthy too.
What a cute idea! My kids love cucumbers! I’ll have to make this for them one day! Thanks!
What a cute and festive appetizer. Perfect for this time of year and all these holiday parties!
These are just absolutely adorable! Your work is so neat and clean – if I were to make these, they wouldn’t even look half as good as yours does!
This is a fantastic idea for the Holidays. I will have to give this recipe a try for my Christmas party.
Cucumber bites look so delicious and easy to make. I am going to give them a try this weekend, I am sure they will be a hit for the Holidays.
I will have to make this for my dinner party this weekend. It looks so yummy.
I know my family is going to love these Cucumber bites. I am excited to make up a bunch for the holidays.
Can this be made ahead of time and refrigerated?
I think you could make the topping in advance and slice the cucumbers up and then just assemble the day of.
This is such a fun idea. I love that it’s got all great healthy treats too. I may need to make one with my girls. They’ll love it.
What a great appetizer. I love that it’s so easy and quick to make.
This is a great appetizer idea! Would love to try this for holiday entertaining!
I like that you have this appetizer shaped like a tree. Perfect for a holiday party. I love using fresh veggies for an appetizer.
How deliciously clever is this! I love themed foods in holiday shapes.
It sounds great and so healthy! I can’t wait to make it for our open house party!
These are just super cute and healthy to boot! always looking for fun appetizers and I am definitely adding these to my holiday list!
That is such a cute snack idea. Cucumbers are always a nice and refreshing treat.
This is such a cute idea for holiday parties. I think I might be able to get the kids to eat vegetables this way.
What a cute idea! I am supposed to take some food to the inlaws for Christmas. My MIL loves cucumbers, and I love how healthy this is!
This is SO cute. It looks like perfect appetizer for the holidays and yummy too!
We usually make a fruit salad but I think this year, I’ll use this idea with apple slices, piped cool whip and maraschino cherries. Star cut from an orange and graham cracker trunk.
What a fun idea!
This is a great idea for a family Christmas party. One doesn’t have to use Dannon brand plain yogurt, tho. There r plenty of plant and nut based yogurts available for those in the family who eat plant-based. Friends too. The entire recipe can be made from plant products.
Thanx, I will give it a try.
Thank you for the adorable and healthy recipe! Here’s some feedback so that others can avoid my mistake–I used reduced-fat cream cheese (1/3 less fat), and the cream mixture turned out soupy.