Goat Cheese Appetizer Recipe for the Holidays!

Goat Cheese Appetizer Recipe for the Holidays!

Reading Time: 5 minutes

Cheese is always a celebration, but you can add traditional, seasonal flavors to create a festive goat cheese appetizer for the holidays.

The arrival of the holidays often signals the winding down of the milking season on my farm.  I usually breed my does in October or November so that I’ll have spring babies, and so I am in the process of drying them off by Christmas or New Year’s.  As the last few weeks of milk comes in, I feel an urge to make as much cheese as possible before I take a break from that as well!

Cheese itself is always festive in my book, but to make my cheeses even more festive at this time of year, I love to add flavors that are traditional to the holiday season. Additions like nuts and cranberries or spirits and spices are all great ways to add color, flavor, and texture to a goat cheese appetizer as well as a seasonal cheese board.

There are several ways you can flavor your cheese. 

You can add flavorings:

  1. To the milk before your cheese make begins
  2. To the curds before you press
  3. To the wheel after it is pressed (or to the outer edges of a fresh cheese)
  4. As an accompaniment when serving

Flavor the Milk:

The first way to add flavor to a goat cheese appetizer is to infuse the milk before you begin.  You can make a “tea” of warm milk that is steeped with dried mushrooms or a blend of spices, herbs, or seeds.  Some nice holiday blends might include rosemary, thyme and sage for Thanksgiving or cardamom, cloves and nutmeg for Christmas or Hanukkah. Simply brew the “tea” for 30 minutes or so before you begin your cheese make and then add that tea to the rest of the milk before you add the culture and rennet.

Flavor the Curds:

The most popular way to add festive flavors to cheeses, especially pressed and aged varieties, is to add the flavoring to the finished curds just before they go into the press.  These can be any type of dried fruits or lightly toasted nuts or seeds (cumin seeds work very well in cheese)!  Or you can soak your curds in wine or liqueur before pressing.  Below is a recipe that I like for the holidays that is a nutty take on the popular Wensleydale.  This cheese normally just has dried cranberries in it, but I decided to add some toasted walnuts or pecans to add a bit of crunch.

goat-cheese-appetizer

Flavor the Rind or Outer Edge:

With fresh cheeses such as chevre, you can add just about any kind of flavoring to the outer edge of a log of wheel.  You can add dried or fresh herbs and spices, or roll a log in chopped dried cranberries or cherries.  You can even briefly soak the log of chevre in wine or other spirits.

When adding flavors to the rind of a wheel of pressed cheese, once it has brined but before it dries and ages, you can soak it in wine or other spirits to infuse the rind, or you can make a dry or wet rub to apply and then vacuum seal it for aging. 

For a special holiday twist, why not soak your cheese in mulled wine to infuse both wine and spices into the flavor of the cheese.  This will also add a nice dash of color on your holiday cheese board.

goat-cheese-appetizer
goat-cheese-appetizer

Holiday Accompaniments:

You can fill little dishes of flavorings such as honey and jams or spoons the thicker varieties right onto your cheese plate or board to be served with your cheeses.  Some flavor pairings that work particularly well together in a goat cheese appetizer include:

  • Chevre with Fig Jam
  • Manchego with Honey
  • Blue cheese with Dried Cherry Sauce
  • Camembert with Apricot Jam

Here’s a festive recipe that I use dried cranberries and toasted nut in.  When you add some toasty bread or crackers, it’s almost like a full meal in itself!

Holiday Cranberry & Nut Goat Cheese Wheel Recipe

goat-cheese-appetizer
  1. PREPARE FLAVORINGS: Chop ½ cup dried cranberries into small pieces and gently steam for 5 minutes.  Chop ¼ cup walnuts or pecans into coarse pieces and toast on a baking tray in a 350 degree oven for 10 minutes.  Allow both to cool before adding to the curds.
  2. CULTURE: Heat 1 gallon of goat milk to 70 degrees in a large pot. Add 1/8 Mesophilicculture if milk is pasteurized, 1/16 tsp if it is raw. Let hydrate for several minutes.
  3. RIPEN: Stir and continue heating to 86 degrees. Cover and let ripen for 45 minutes.
  4. COAGULATE: Combine 1/8 tsp liquid rennet with ¼ cup cool, non-chlorinated water. Add to pot and gently stir with up and down motion for 1 minute. Cover and let sit for 45 minutes, or until a clean break is achieved.
  5. CUT: Cut curds into ½ inch cubes. Let rest 5 minutes.
  6. STIR: Gently stir curds for 10 minutes, maintaining 86 degrees. Let rest 5 minutes.
  7. HEAT: Stir curds 10 minutes and increase temperature by 1 degree. Let rest 5 minutes. Repeat this same method three more times until 90 degrees is reached, then stir an extra 10 minutes at 90 degrees (should take about 70 minutes total).
  8. DRAIN: Pour curds into colander lined with butter muslin. Let rest 30 minutes, keeping warm.
  9. MILL: Break curds into 1-inch pieces. Re-wrap in butter muslin. Let rest 30 minutes, keeping warm. Repeat this step (mill and rest) two more times (takes about 90 minutes total).
  10. SALT: Mill one last time and add 1.5-2 teaspoons salt in two additions.
  11. ADD FLAVORINGS: Add cranberries and nuts right after the second addition of salt.
  12. PRESS: Transfer curds to a form lined with butter muslin. Press with 20 pounds for 1 hour. Flip and press with 50 pounds for 6-8 hours.
  13. AIR DRY: Remove from press and air dry for 1-2 days.
  14. WAX: Wax your cheese, or vacuum seal.
  15. AGE: Age at 55 degrees for 1-3 months, flipping occasionally.
  16. ENJOY!

Kate Johnson raises dairy goats at Briar Gate Farm, runs a cheesemaking school at www.theartofcheese.com and is an active volunteer with the Boulder County 4-H program. She’s also a member of the Colorado Dairy Goat Association and author of the book, Tiny Goat Big Cheese.


Originally published in the November/December 2022 issue of Goat Journal and regularly vetted for accuracy

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