Martha Stewart's Appetizers: 200 Recipes for Dips, Spreads, Snacks, Small Plates, and Other Delicious Hors d'Oeuvres, Plus 30 Cocktails: A Cookbook Hardcover – September 8, 2015

This is such an awesome narrative appetizer and cocktail recipe compendium.Beautiful pictorials and engaging, linking, stylized recipe coordination.Par excellence!!A+

Martha Stewart's cookbooks are an indespensable collection of recipes and this cookbook delivers. Between simple and advanced, no recipe dissapoints.

If you need one reference book for appetizers, this is it. Almost every recipe you would ever need for a beautiful spread of hors d'oeuvres is in here. Moreover, as we would expect from Martha Stewart, the first chapters, which pack in lots of solid, useful party-planning and hosting tips. are invaluable for the novice host/hostess.The Kindle formatting is unique for a cookbook, and I'm not a fan: I want to see the headnote and recipe on the same page(s). On the bright side, every recipe, and every variation, has a color photo.There are 124 basic recipes, of which 30 (including variations) are cocktails. However, most of the basic recipes expand to several variations (for example, "Spiced Nuts" has 6), so there are a lot of recipes in this book. Excluding cocktails, I counted 165 variations on the basic recipes.The ingredients are, for the most part, accessible, using many store-bought products: wonton wrappers, tortillas, Chex, frozen edamame, canned beans and artichoke hearts, store-bought puff pastry (all-butter, please), phyllo dough, rice-paper wrappers (for summer rolls), chicken stock, panko bread crumbs (if you choose not to make the authors' recipe), dried figs, and frozen spinach. Of course, the authors also provide ample recipes for home-made items such as mini-hamburger buns for sliders, pizza, hand-pies, and empanada dough.Most recipes have extremely useful and thoughtful "Notes" embedded with tips about sourcing ingredients, make-ahead tips, storage, and technique.Recipes range from the simple (seasoned potato chips) to the substantial (glazed ham). From the humble (deviled eggs) to the exotic (fruits de mer, which uses oysters, shrimp, mussels, crab legs, and crab claws). From inexpensive (chicken wings) to several bites with caviar. It's a Martha Stewart book, so, naturally, many recipes, such as hand pies, crepes, or crackers, made from scratch, require some substantial time; however, there are plenty of recipes that, with some smart shopping, are quick put-togethers.I rank this as an outstanding gift for a newlywed or college grad, and one in which many experienced hosts will find something new and interesting to add to their repertoire.

This book does not compare to her earlier huge volume on hors d'oeuvres. It is quick and to the point, if you just want to do something, but Martha usually gives us more quality than this.

IT LIES FLAT when it's open. All cookbooks should do that, but most don't. Alleluia.Very pretty pictures, clear instructions, nicely laid out. You don't have to flip pages back and forth while making things. Yay that. The pages are kind of smooth, but not slick and shiny; fairly smooth cover. If you dribble something on them and are quick about wiping them off, it should come off okay. Dark stuff might leave a stain on the pages. The book smells like new textbooks. :) It's 10.25" x 7.75", so not too big. So many cookbooks these days take up too much space in a normal-sized kitchen. Not this one. :)Table of Contents lists the sections. Each section lists all the recipes it contains. It's well-indexed.Chiorizo, Corn & Cheddar Quesadillas and Fresh Tomatillo Salsa are the only two things I've made so far, but they were both very good! You can never go wrong with tomatillos, though, lol. Almost all the stuff in her books is good (the Cookies book is probably THE best book on cookies) and I'm fairly confident that the rest of it will be good. But if it's not, I will update. Nobody - not even Martha - gets a pass if what they sell isn't worthy of having money spent on it. Not in my book.Martha has never failed me on quality. Since my salad days, many years ago, when I always bought her stuff at (the discount store) until now, I know that if Martha's name is on it, it's going to be good. In the case of cookbooks, it's going to be EXCELLENT - sometimes the best on the market - and not priced as high as others! I've always appreciated that I could count on Martha for quality, especially when I was pretty broke. She may have become a wealthy woman, but I really don't think that Martha Stewart has really received the credit she is due. You can count on her and that's not something you can say about the majority of names or products (of any kind) these days.

I am a home chef. I have to constantly throw ideas out for people, when it comes to appetizers I really struggle for inspiration when someone has dietary restrictions, preferences, ect. I love that this book is slightly dated, people love a well executed throwback. Guests respond very well to familiar yet dressed up and beautifully presented dishes. I bought this book because of the broiled Feta recipe. I also plan to make the Seasoned potato chips a lot, and the mini croque monsieur I already know will be a hit, the bbq brie with tomato jam will also be a go to. These are dishes people will love to serve and share with guests. I write menus, and entertain in peoples homes, this is exactly the fare that makes for casual classy entertaining. Martha knows what's up, this book has already inspired a million ideas beyond the recipes and photographs!