This cheese spread comes together so quickly, with a savory-sweet flavor delicious bits of cranberry and pistachio throughout!
When it comes to easy party food, cheese-centric dishes must certainly be at the top of the list. For example, how simple it is to fan out a few slices of a tasty Cheddar or creamy Havarti? And then alongside the cheese serve crackers that are usually a few degrees fancier than the saltines or store-brand version of Ritz crackers that you’d normally buy for your own family.
At Costco I saw pre-assembled trays of fanned cheeses – more convenient still! Cheese spreads are also quite delicious and easy to pull together yourself: blend a creamy cheese together with various seasonings, maybe some nuts and fruit to add texture and flavor.
A cheese ball is an old-fashioned app but still a popular one, and so yummy when you have a sturdy cracker to dig down through it!
I think this cheese spread is a perfect option for a last-minute appetizer to whip up and set out just in time for your party.
The base of this spread is tangy chèvre, with a distinctive flavor all on its own but that is also really nice in combination with a handful of dried cranberries and another handful of chopped pistachios.
The bright flavors of the berries and nuts play quite nicely with the chèvre.
To tie everything together I blended in some hot pepper jelly – the sweetness of this lovely condiment is a nice foil to the tangy cheese, while also contributing a touch of heat.
This spread blends up quickly.
You can simply spoon it into a dish, or like I did press it into a plastic wrap-lined bowl.
Invert the bowl onto a serving platter and you have a nice dome of cheese to dig into with a good, sturdy cracker.
This one checks all the boxes: easy to make, quite tasty, goes well with good crackers. And all with just 5 ingredients! I’m a big fan of the cheese products from Vermont Creamery, but if they’re not available in your area use any good quality chèvre.
This cheese spread comes together so quickly, with a savory-sweet flavor and delicious bits of cranberry and pistachio throughout!
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup pistachios in their shells (or 1/4 cup shelled pistachios)
- 8 ounces good quality chèvre goat cheese (such as Vermont Creamery)
- 3 tablespoons hot pepper jelly
- 1 pinch salt
- Sturdy crackers to serve with the cheese (I like Town House Pita Crackers)
Use a sharp knife and cutting board to chop up the dried cranberries. You don’t have to worry too much about uniformity of the pieces, just chop them into smaller pieces.
Remove the pistachios from their shells and use a sharp knife to chop them into small pieces.
Place the chopped cranberries, chopped pistachios, goat cheese, pepper jelly and pinch of salt into the bowl of a stand mixer and blend the ingredients together on medium speed until the ingredients are equally blended in. (You can also use a large bowl and hand mixer to do this step.)
At this point you can simply spoon the cheese spread into a small serving dish and set it out with crackers, or you can shape the cheese spread: line a small, round bowl with plastic wrap and press the cheese spread firmly into the bowl. Cover the top with plastic and refrigerate the bowl for 30 minutes. Have a serving plate ready: remove the top piece of plastic and invert the bowl onto the serving platter. Remove the bowl and the plastic wrap from the cheese.
You can serve the cheese spread as is or warm a little pepper jelly to spoon over the top, and add a few dried cranberries and pistachios as a garnish. Place crackers around the cheese and serve it up!
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