Here are a few ideas to carry over Summer entertaining themes like cookouts and bonfires into playful additions to the buffet table.

Devilled Eggs with a Twist

For a savory stand-by, I modified regular devilled eggs by peeling and soaking the hard-boiled eggs in a bath of water, vinegar and salt with some red food coloring (beets would also do well) and kept them in the refrigerator for a couple of days, occasionally shaking to avoid white spots where the eggs were touching the container or each other.

I also added turmeric powder to the filling to enhance that color.

Glistening like jewels…

Light my fire… with Cookies!

These were inspired by little strips of sablé cookie with an end dipped in chocolate which I had on a cruise. They reminded me of matchsticks, which was a quality I enhanced by sprinkling the chocolate tips with red cinnamon sugar after dipping.

I couldn’t resist taking this photo of them while they all looked like French fries.

The Bonfire of the Cupcakes

Sugar flames (covered in more detail HERE) top rich chocolate cupcakes for a simple bonfire design.

…And now, the cupcakes from District 12!