Best Rated Appetizer Recipes

These award-winning Coconut Shrimp Rolls are as elegant looking as they are simple to make. Creator Tammy Love won the Pillsbury Bake-Off contest by wrapping whole shrimp in crescent rolls with some unusual ingredients, including apricot preserves and rum extract, as the filling.

Cathy at The Hungry Hollow has won awards and appeared in a cookbook with her appetizer of Basil Fried Green Tomato Crostini. Both the baguette and the tomatoes are fried to a crisp texture, then filled with a cream cheese spread that is mixed with fresh basil.

These bite-size, addictive morsels are featured in Sunset.com's Best Cocktails and Appetizers list. Baklava, featuring bacon, chile flakes and orange syrup, will have you snacking all night.

This recipe for Pizza Pockets by Giada De Laurentiis first appeared on her show Everyday Italian in the Great Weekend Hors d' Oeuvres episode. The recipe gets consistently high reviews on the Food Network website and they're ready in just over 30 minutes. The filling of the tiny pizzas combines turkey sausage, arugula and cream cheese for a flavorful bite.

These spicy cheese puffs created by Helen Trujillo won first prize at a Chile festival in New Mexico. Green Chiles and two types of cheese combine with flour and eggs to form a warm, chewy puff perfect for serving with salsa.

While salsa recipes are found everywhere, most are made with raw vegetables. This Bloomingfoods Market and Deli's 2008 Salsa Contest award-winning salsa by José Espericueta features mesquite-smoked vegetables as its base for a depth of flavor you won't find in standard salsas.

Skip the standard fruit tray and serve these warm Figs Stuffed with Gorgonzola and Walnuts instead. Oprah's website lists them as one of the best appetizers that takes under 10 minutes to make. The stuffed figs are roasted until hot and the cheese has melted, combining the flavors of the fruit, nuts, and cheese into one delicious bite.

Bring the cheese ball into the 21st century by serving this Date, Walnut, and Blue Cheese Ball listed by Cooking Light as one of their top-rated appetizers. Dates give the blue cheese a hint of sweetness, while the parsley wrapping the exterior brings a slightly bitter taste to the finish to round it out.

If you're a fan of dips, consider serving this contest-winning Sesame Chicken Dip that Taste of Home rates among their best appetizer recipes. Marinated shredded chicken forms the base of the dip and gets rounded out with cream cheese. Prep takes only a few minutes, and the finished recipe serves a big crowd.