From Better Homes and Gardens

Pick your favorite quick-and-easy bruschetta topping from the four delicious options provided or serve them all at your next party. The make-ahead directions will help with advance planning.

Easy Bruschetta

From Better Homes and Gardens

Make the cheese mixture ahead of time for these appetizers. That way it's chilled and ready for assembly come party time.

Greek Salad Bites

From Better Homes and Gardens

Bruschetta comes from the Italian word "bruscare," which means "to roast over coals." This version of the appetizer is toasted in the oven.

Bruschetta with Goat Cheese

From Food & Wine

Thomas Keller's salmon cornets (tuiles shaped into tiny cones and topped with creme fraiche and fresh salmon) are a famous kickoff to his luxe and whimsical meals. The original recipe appears in The French Laundry Cookbook (Artisan). Shaping the tuiles into cones is tricky and involves working very quickly with a cornet mold. Instead, leave the tuiles flat, like crackers. Top them with store-bought smoked salmon and creme fraiche.

Smoked Salmon Crisps

From Betty Crocker

An Italian favorite! A lively lemon-and-oil mixture lightly dresses an assortment of meats, olives and vegetables.

Antipasto Platter

From Better Homes and Gardens

Appetizers for a crowd are made with an easy tomato topping on toasted slices of bread started in a bread machine.

Whole Wheat Crostini with Dried Tomato Tapanade

From Better Homes and Gardens

Brandy and blue cheese spice up these hearty appetizers. Because blue cheese tends to be salty, use unsalted butter.

Gorgonzola Crostini

From Food & Wine

Sardines with Jalapeno Cream Cheese and Cocktail Olives

From Better Homes and Gardens

One of the most traditional versions of this Italian appetizer, is also one of the quickest to assemble.

Sweet Pepper Bruschetta

From Better Homes and Gardens

This make ahead appetizer can be put on hold for 24 hours. Just bake the bruschetta when guests arrive.

Caramelized Onion and Fig Bruschetta

From Food & Wine

Chef Stuart Brioza sears sweet summer peaches in pancetta with fresh basil leaves for a crispy, juicy hors d'oeuvre. They would also be an unexpected addition to a frisee or baby escarole salad.

Pancetta-Wrapped Peaches with Basil and Aged Balsamic

From Food & Wine

After baking flaky squares of puff pastry, Melissa Rubel Jacobson tops them with sweet fig preserves and pungent blue cheese.

Fig-and-Stilton Squares

From Food & Wine

These open-faced sandwiches created by F&W's Marcia Kiesel can be cut into whimsical shapes. For a little graphic fun, look for radishes of varying shapes and sizes.

Radish, Parsley, and Lemon-Butter Tea Sandwiches

From Better Homes and Gardens

Host an old-fashioned tea party and make these simple cream-cheese-and-ham-topped crackers the star.

Petite Tea Sandwiches

From Food & Wine

A staple at Todd English's Olives restaurants is his much-lauded house-made flatbread, topped with sticky-sweet fig jam, pungent Gorgonzola cheese and salty prosciutto. Use store-bought pizza dough instead of homemade.

Fig-and-Prosciutto Flatbreads

From Food & Wine

F&W's Emily Kaiser, who co-authored The Harney & Sons Guide to Tea, pairs her clever tea sandwiches with spicy Indian chai, like the 500 Mile Chai ($9.50 for 4 ounces; taooftea.com).

Cucumber-Mint Chutney Tea Sandwiches

From Food & Wine

For this easy, impressive hors d'oeuvre, Jacques Pepin tops roasted fingerling potatoes with sour cream and slender diamonds of pressed caviar. Boiled, sliced red potatoes also work.

Roasted Fingerling Potato and Pressed Caviar Canapes

From McCormick®

Serve these miniature crab cakes as a holiday appetizer or at brunch. Rubbed sage and orange zest season the crab cake mixture and dried cranberries add festive color.

McCormick® Cranberry-Sage Mini Crab Cakes

From EatingWell

Precooked shimp make this pretty appetizer a snap to prepare.

Shrimp & Avocado Canapes