Cheat’s guide to the classiest High St canapes

FORGET sausages rolls and mushroom vol au vents — supermarket canapes have gone decidedly upmarket this Christmas. From mini lobster thermidores to prawn spoons and crostini burgers — we take a look at what’s on offer and assess them for taste, value and festive flair.

Marks & Spencer Mini Lobster & Langoustine Thermidor

£7 for ten

WHAT ARE THEY? Canadian lobster and Scottish langoustine in a rich, shellfish and brandy sauce, served in scallop shells and topped with a cheese and chilli crumb topping. Bake for ten minutes in a hot oven.

ANY GOOD? These posh, pricey canapes look fabulously festive. With a distinct lobster flavour, the delicious, creamy seafood mixture contrasts well with its crisp, cheesy topping. They are surprisingly filling, but eating them is really awkward. You have to put the shell in your mouth and drag the contents off with your teeth. Horribly messy.

VERDICT: Delicious and stylish — but expensive and awkward to eat. 3/5

Iceland Prawn Spoons

£3 for 16. WHAT ARE THEY? King prawns and a seafood sauce, served on individual plastic spoons. Defrost for one hour and ten minutes. Serve cold.

ANY GOOD? These look pretty good and the prawns are all nicely presented on pools of sauce, topped with neat parsley garnishes.

Unfortunately they didn’t taste very nice at all. The sauce was good, but the prawns were tasteless, watery and rubbery. With just 11 calories and a low saturated fat content these are about as healthy as canapes get. It’s just a shame they don’t taste as good as they look.

VERDICT: Look good but the prawns are watery and tasteless. 2/5

Asda Chosen By You Oriental Stars

£2 for 12

WHAT ARE THEY?

Star-shaped, filo pastry parcels. Six have paprika-seasoned pastry and a red Thai chicken filling — the other six are plain pastry filled with duck, salted plum, vegetables and Chinese fivespice seasoning. Bake from frozen for 12 minutes.

ANY GOOD? The stars looked pretty — if a little small — on the plate. The red Thai version tasted quite authentic — with a spicy chilli kick, and nice hint of coconut. The duck stars were horrible however — sickly, and drenched in overpowering Chinese five-spice. There seemed to be significantly more pastry than filling in both versions. With 55 calories per canape, and a high level of saturated fat, these festive treats could help you pile on a f ew Christmas pounds in a flash.

VERDICT: Small, mostly pastry — and not very tasty. 1/5

Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Polenta Cakes

£4 for ten

WHAT ARE THEY? Pre-cooked circular polenta cakes topped with a red pepper chutney and goats’ cheese.

ANY GOOD? These one-bite canapes come in separate pieces which you have to cook, then assemble yourself. It was a real pain. A couple of the cakes fell to pieces as I tried to turn them over on the baking sheet, and a few canapes collapsed as I tried to pick them up to eat them.

That said, they tasted very nice. The chutney had a nice chargrilled taste and went well with the polenta and salty cheese.

At just 47 calories, moderate fat and a small amount of sugar, these are one of the healthier choices.

VERDICT: Fiddly but tasty. 3/5

Waitrose Party Hickory Smoked Crostini Burgers

£5.99 for 12

WHAT ARE THEY? Tiny Aberdeen Angus burgers served on basil crostini and topped with barbecue sauce. Place on an oiled baking tray in a hot oven for 20 minutes

ANY GOOD? These cute, bite-sized burgers come ready assembled on their crostini bases. All I had to do was drizzle them with the pouch of barbecue sauce and pop them into the oven. The burgers didn’t just look good, they were really tasty — lean and well seasoned. At 73 calories each and quite high in saturated fat they can hardly be categorized as a light snack – but, because they are so meaty and substantial, they do fill you up pretty quickly.

VERDICT: Perfectly delicious. 5/5

Aldi Specially Selected Thai Red Chicken & Mango & Chilli Mini Canape Collection

£2 for 12

WHAT ARE THEY? Traditional Thai appetisers. Thin pastry cups — six filled with Thai red chicken filling, the other six filled with mango and chilli chicken. Bake for 15 minutes in a hot oven.

ANY GOOD? These are not at all bad for the price. The pastry cups are attractive and pleasingly thin, so you get plenty of chunky chicken filling. Each cup is a generous twobite size too. The red Thai version tastes authentic. The mango chicken cups are much more cloying with 2.1g sugar, almost half a teaspoon, of sugar in each. Although quite high in saturated fat, at around 46 calories these substantial canapes are one of the better choices you can make for your waistline.

VERDICT: Good value, but not very impressive on the flavour front 3/5

Morrisons M Signature Toad In the Hole Bites

£3.49 for 18

WHAT ARE THEY? Crisp, bite- size Yorkshire puddings with pork sausages and onion relish on top.

ANY GOOD? Although assembling the canapes was a bit of a pain, these were really tasty. The Yorkshire puddings were crisp, and the sausages were meaty with a nice sage-and-black pepper flavour.

At 57 calories each these have the same number of calories as a mini sausage roll — but because there’s batter rather than pastry, they have just a third of a sausage roll’s saturated fat content.

VERDICT: Good value, a tasty canape. 4/5