There are a lot of tricks to make pretty shapes and cute characters with food in Japan. You can see more traditional ones like plum flower-shaped carrots in Chikuzenni, and also Tako Sausage for Bento box.
Tomato Santa and Cucumber Christmas Tree are a Christmas version of this style. You can not only use these as a plate of appetizers, but also add as side dishes for everyday dinner to show holiday spirit. We eat cakes like Strawberry Shortcake and Buche de Noel for Christmas in Japan. If you’re not a sweet person though, make Sushi Cake decorated with Tomato Santa and Cucumber Tree to enjoy the festivity.
They are easy to make with simple ingredients, but they will make a huge difference in appearance on your food. We guarantee that you can make your family and friends smile with these cute appetizers!
Tomato Santa and Cucumber Christmas Tree Recipe
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Ingredients
Tomato Santa
- plum tomatoes
- semi-hard cheese jack or cheddar cheese
- cream cheese room temperature
- black sesame seeds
Cucumber Christmas Tree
- hot house cucumber 12″ or 30 cm long
Instructions
- Tomato Santa:
- Slice off the bottom of tomatoes (so they stand) and cut in half. Place tomatoes cut sides down on a paper towel and remove moisture. Set aside. Cut out rounds from 1/4″ (6 mm) thick semi-hard cheese with 1/2″ (1.2 cm) diameter round cookie cutter. Put soft cream cheese in a piping bag with a star tip.
- Pipe cream cheese on a bottom half of a tomato. Place cheese round on cream cheese, and pipe some more on top of the cheese round. Place top half of tomato on the piped cream cheese. Pipe a dot on top of the tomato. Stick sesame seeds on semi-hard cheese as eyes.
- Cucumber Christmas Tree:
- Cut 12″ (30 cm) long cucumber into 8″ (20 cm) and 4″ (10 cm) sections.
- Slice long cucumber section with a peeler to make ribbons. Cut 1/2″ (1.2cm) thick rounds from the short cucumber section.
- Fold a thin cucumber ribbon to make an S shape (three or four folds), and pin onto a round cucumber with a plastic stick or toothpick.
Video
