So you’re having a party, and you’d like to serve some fresh and healthy appetizers, but you’d rather make your kids do most of the work? Done! These cranberry jicama star appetizers are gluten-free and use only unprocessed ingredients. Even better, they just involve some quick prep work on your part. Then the kids can do the rest while you move on to other things.
The bases of these stars are thin slices of (more on that in a moment) jicama from Melissa’s Produce. The topping is a simple cranberry relish adapted from our friends over at Simple Gourmet. We love it because you can make it in about two seconds and you can use it right away or set it aside for later and it will still taste delicious. And – who knew? – the taste combination of cranberry relish and jicama is bright, crisp, and refreshing.
To make the jicama slices for fun little appetizer, we used this cool food slicer from Zyliss. This slicer lets you slice odd-shaped vegetables without the hassle (or size restrictions) of putting them down the chute of your food processor. You can adjust the thickness or change them into super-thin matchstick slices if you like. The red gripper has little “teeth” that hold on tightly to your vegetable so that you can just zip-zip-zip and have a perfect little set of slices in seconds.
So do your slicing, toss the slicer in your dishwasher, and your work is done. Let your kids do the rest of the work such as cutting the jicama stars and topping them with cranberry relish. Then go enjoy your party while everyone enjoys cranberry jicama stars.
Cranberry-Jicama Star Appetizers Recipe
Cranberry-Jicama Star Appetizers
Ingredients
- 8 oz. 1 cup whole fresh cranberries
- 1 small tangerine seedless or with seeds removed, skin and all
- 4 oz. 1 large handful basil leaves
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 jicama peeled
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
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In a food processor, combine the whole cranberries, tangerine, basil leaves, and honey until you have a chunky relish. (If you like, you can refrigerate the relish and keep it for up to two days before you're ready to use it.)
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Meanwhile cut the jicama into 1-centimeter slices. Using a cookie cutter, cut the slices into stars or other holiday shapes.
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Drop the relish by rounded spoonfuls onto the jicama stars. Top each one with a dried cranberry. Serve immediately, or chill until serving. Makes approximately 16 stars. Serves 8.
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Cranberry-jicama stars appetizer
Blogger disclosure: We received the Zyliss food slicer for review purposes but did not receive for this post. All opinions expressed are those of Jolly Tomato.
Hi! I'm Jeanne Fratello - a writer, reporter, and food enthusiast who is on a mission to write great stories about food and where your food comes from.
love it — what a cute, healthy treat! (tree + lights in the background are so pretty, too)
Thanks, Valentina! The tree is up wayyy early this year. ; )
Yeah, you are making me feel like a slacker with your decorated tree! Love the jic stars!
These are so pretty. I can imagine all sorts of shapes for a really fun holiday party, like trees and bells.
Really need to find one of those slicers, that looks like an amazing tool.
Thank you so much! Yes, we have all sorts of ideas for future shapes. Just need to get our hands on some more jicama…