5 Christmas Wreath Appetizers to Slice, Pull Apart or Spread

A Christmas wreath appetizer can be a flaky ring to slice, a circle of sausage bites, or cheese to spread onto crackers. These five savory versions each lead to their creator’s complete recipe.

Choose how you want to serve it before buying the dough. Brie slices and spinach-artichoke bread arrive warm; the vegetable wreath needs a cooled crust, and the cheddar-pecan ring comes with crackers.

Alida Ryder brings points from the pastry’s center over the filling to meet its outer edge. That creates an open ring with little bridges of pastry, rather than a covered wheel of cheese.

Start with a thawed puff-pastry sheet. Alida allows store-bought cranberry sauce, so the pastry preparation is the part to plan before assembly; keep the dough’s package directions with her recipe.

An egg wash gives the dough its golden finish, followed by coarse salt and poppy seeds. Optional rosemary around the outside brings green to the platter without changing the sausage-and-cheddar bites.

The shaping bowl comes out before baking. A separate ketchup bowl goes in when the wreath reaches its serving platter; allow for Linda’s cooling step before that transfer, too.

Quartered jumbo biscuits overlap in a ring beneath the creamy topping, with more mozzarella over the surface. As it bakes, the bread browns and the spinach-artichoke layer becomes hot and lightly browned.

The recipe includes mixing the full dip with mozzarella, Parmesan, mayonnaise, sour cream, ranch mix and garlic. Here the topping sits over the bread, so you get a bread-and-dip appetizer in one wreath.

Sharp cheddar and pecans give the cream-cheese mixture its texture and color. The mixture is chilled before shaping, so this is the choice that leaves the oven free for the rest of your menu.

Meredith forms the chilled mixture into equal logs, joins them into a circle and smooths the ring. The separate jelly bowl fills the opening while keeping the cheese easy to reach with the knife.

Cool the crust completely before adding the cream-cheese, sour-cream and seasoning mixture. Jenn prefers the finished wreath chilled; allow space for its platter in the fridge as well as time for the base to cool.

Reserve part of the red pepper for the bow before chopping the vegetables. Jenn confirms that the bowl used to form the crust can come out before baking; the finished center stays open.