Final Notes for the Cold Stuffed Tomatoes Appetizer Recipe
➡️ Cold appetizers are at the top of the preferences of many peoples. This isn’t surprising since appetizers are served also as party food, but they can be used for a quick snack or breakfast too. As a result, make-ahead appetizers gained very much in popularity, especially before the Covid-19 era, when people gathered frequently to socialize. With or without Covi-19, appetizers remain popular with people of all ages, social statuses, or gender types.
➡️ On this page, I share with you one of the simplest cold appetizer recipes, namely the cream cheese stuffed tomatoes. Cold stuffed tomatoes are extremely popular in Eastern and Central Europe, the Balkans, but also in the Middle East. In other parts of the world, they are less known or considered an old-fashioned finger food type.
➡️ However, I like cold stuffed tomatoes very much, so I prepare this appetizer with all kinds of stuffings, which some of the most frequently used include roasted eggplant salad, boiled egg salad, red kidney bean salad, and, of course, cream cheese spread.
➡️ Making this party food is really easy, so I don’t have many tips to share with you. Still, I’ll offer you a few secrets to get the best results when making this cream cheese stuffed tomatoes recipe.
➡️ My first advice is to not use too ripe tomatoes because they are very soft and contain a lot of juice which could combine with the cream cheese and turn it into a watery mixture. The best tomatoes to make cold stuffed tomatoes are half-ripe tomatoes, they have a nice red color but are still firm and contain less juice.
➡️ The second tip is to choose carefully tomatoes size depending on both the shape that you’ll give them and the appetizer type that you are preparing. What do I mean?
➡️ Let’s say you want to make a more complex shape for the stuffed tomatoes, like the one from this video, such as a small basket. In this case, you should choose medium-sized tomatoes because fit best with this kind of shaping.
➡️ If you just cut a thin slice of tomato, you can use larger tomatoes because they look well when you place the cut slice in the cheese at the top, for example.
➡️ Also, the size depends on the appetizer type. As an example, if you make finger food or appetizers on a stick, you could use cherry tomatoes to fill them up because they can be taken easily from the platter and consumed in a single bite.
➡️ Another tip is to store stuffed tomatoes in the fridge for at least 30-60 minutes before serving them to allow some time for the cream cheese spread to harden. This is especially important when you prepare homemade cream cheese.
➡️ As for the cream cheese type, basically, you can use any cream cheese you like. I prefer to make homemade cheese spread when I make cream cheese stuffed tomatoes, but commercial versions are also good when you don’t have too much time to prepare appetizers or you simply want to spend little time in the kitchen. In this case, you need less than 5-10 minutes! Enjoy making cream cheese-stuffed tomatoes!
➡️ When you want to make a quick snack, a simple but elegant appetizer or your friends have announced that they are coming over and you need a spectacular party food, the cream cheese stuffed tomatoes recipe is the perfect solution! So, watch the video and enjoy making cream cheese stuffed tomatoes from scratch! For additional info, read more on hors d’oeuvre.
