Did you know that the team behind Obama’s campaign created 14.5 million hours of official video content for YouTube? And did you know that the cost of buying that 14.5 million hours on broadcast television would have been $47 million?

No? Well, neither did I. But then last week I cooked for a Teamspirit PR event, where Obama’s first videographer, Arun Chaudhary, was the guest speaker. So now I can share these tantalising little gobbets about how YouTube can sway national opinion. Even if you’re in the kitchen, it’s amazing what you can learn if you keep your eyes open and your ear to the ground!

I teamed up with my exceptionally-talented pal Milli Taylor (honestly, check out her rhino cake), and we started pondering the brief: “US-themed canapés for ninety”. It was funny imagining how awesome it’d be if we were invited to speak in Washington DC, and turned up to a roomful of bangers ‘n mash canapés, tiny Yorkshire puddings, and mini spotted dicks, all cooked in our honour. Kind of a busman’s holiday, but a really great one!

Spurred on by  this thought, we put together the menu below. Rather usefully, Milli has just finished working on a canapé cookbook, Party-Perfect Bites. I snuck a look at the proofs, and it’s brilliant. So fresh, so exciting. So far from the fusty, Hyacinth Bouquet  reputation which canapés have. The book is split into chapters-by-country, so we pilfered the US section for bits like cornbread muffins and blue cheese dip, and we just used our initiative for the rest. It’s amazing how well a ladle of macaroni and crispy pancetta in a black espresso cup goes down round 7pm on an autumn evening!

When you’re trying to get out so many canapés in such a short amount of time it’s hard to take decent photos as well — especially in a basement kitchen at night. Hopefully these are enough to give you an idea though.

US Canapés 

Crudités with American blue cheese dip
Pulled pork sliders in a brioche bun
Mini cheeseburgers
Cornbread muffins with southern shrimp cocktail
Miniature smoked salmon bagels
Mac ‘n cheese cups with crispy pancetta

Peanut butter cookies
Mini key lime pies
VOTE election biscuits