Canapes for Cheats: Donald Russell's Christmas Party Box

The Christmas Party Box from posh Scottish butchers Donald Russell is perfect for lazy cheats who can't even be bothered to knock up a few Salami Slut Cups. At £34 for party food to serve 8 it's not too pricey, and the quality is top notch. Better still, the portions are healthy - definitely small enough to hold in one hand while working the room with a cocktail in the other, yet big enough to need at least three or four bites to devour them (unless you've got some kind of freakishly HUGE mouth). In fact these are kind of man-sized canapes (manapes?) rather than typical flimsy and insubstantial finger food that leaves your tummy rumbling.
The box contains 16 pork chipolatas (I'd probably toss these in honey and sesame seeds before cooking, although they're lovely as they are), 8 mini fish cakes to be fried or oven baked (serve with sweet chilli sauce), 24 beef meatballs (spike them with cocktail sticks for easy handling), 10 mini ham croissants (these could cause a fight between you and your guests for the last two), 8 chunky little steak burgers (which would look so cute in mini buns, if these exist), and my absolute favourite, 16 of the meaty mini artisan sausage rolls wrapped in the flakiest of flaky pastries. All you need to add is plenty of booze and cake and, readers, you have a party.
Admittedly it's not just a case of lobbing a pack of sausages in the oven. Although the products do all cook straight from frozen, you often need to add a final touch by brushing the sausage rolls and croissants with egg wash, or the fish cakes with a little vegetable oil. It's a small price to pay for some very upmarket nosh though. And I won't tell anyone if you pass them off as your own.

The Christmas Party Box for 8 costs £34 from Donald Russell. There is also a similar box to serve 12 that costs £59.
Delivery is free for orders to the UK mainland of over £80 and £5 for orders less than that. The lovely folk at Donald Russell will pack your box with dry ice so the goodies inside stay nicely frozen until they get to you.