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Healthy Appetizer Recipe: Hummus Yule Tree

With a few quick chops of the knife, turn humdrum hummus and celery into a festive yule tree. The first time I brought this appetizer to a holiday party, people snapped it up in just five minutes. The creamy chickpea spread and crunchy celery make a delicious combination. And this healthy hors d'oeuvre will help tame the holiday jitters from too much sugar or spiked punch.

The hummus yule tree also works well as part of a family lunch or dinner. Younger kids can help fill the celery branches you cut and older ones can do the whole project themselves. For extra fun, cut a strip of red pepper or carrot into small triangles and use as ornaments to make a Christmas tree.

Active time: 10 minutes. Total time: 10 minutes. Makes about 15 servings.

Ingredients

7 stalks celery (most of one bunch)
1 cup hummus

Method

1. Pick attractive stalks of celery with an inside curve that will hold hummus. Clean and trim any rough spots.
2. To make an attractive tree shape, start with the most slender pieces and work towards the wider ones, each about a quarter-inch longer than the previous pair. Cut pairs of pieces that are mirror-images of each other. Both sides of each stalk should angle in towards the shorter bottom edge. The angle towards the tree trunk will be less than the one on the outside. To get the pairs to match, cut one, then turn it over and put on top of the matching piece. Cut the second piece so the angles match.
3. To keep the celery from flopping over once it is filled with hummus, slice a thin ribbon from the bottom edge of each piece, creating a flat resting place.
4. Spread hummus into the curve of each stalk and arrange tree on a long plate. If you don't have a long plate or may be leaving the plate where you are going, cover a piece of cardboard with aluminum foil.

Tips and notes

• Keep a container of hummus in your freezer and a bunch of celery in your vegetable drawer and you are always ready for last-minute entertaining.
• This recipe can be super-thrifty if you make your own hummus, but it's still a great choice using prepared hummus.