My good friend gave me a jar of her red pepper jelly, and it looked so, so good - red, vibrant, bright! Like having a little jar full of Fall, right on my counter. And I knew I had to have something good to eat it with. My first thought was spreading it on a cracker with some goat cheese, but NATURALLY I didn't have any crackers. DAMMIT!
Then I remembered a recent episode of Top Chef that had me salivating. The chefs had to pair a specific drink with an appetizer, and one of the V brothers (they are both so delish I forget who is who and I don't even care, I'd take them both) paired an apple drink with a goat cheese cookie. AHA! Perfect for my jelly, thought I!
Unfortunately, not so much. In my mind it was a cracker, not a cookie, but really it is sweet. VERY sweet, actually. It was well received on Top Chef, but the other dish was much less sweet than for how I was using it. SO....keep that in mind when you make it. Perfect for something tart - in fact, I bet it'd be great with rhubarb or something like that. But not with something else sweet.
Anyway, it was super easy to make. Cream together goat cheese and sugar, then mix in some flour and egg whites. Spread it on a cookie sheet, top with sea salt, pepper, and sesame seeds, and bake for about 20 minutes until golden brown. It took me less than 5 minutes to make, and it was easy to spread. I put it on a silicone sheet so I wouldn't have to arse around with clean-up...I hates me the clean up.
After about 25 minutes, it looked like so:
See how nice and brown it is around the edges? That was my favourite part, as I preferred the crispy texture. Next time I'll spread it thinner. It really doesn't puff up, since there's no rising agent.
Ah well, it wasn't what I thought it would be, but it's always good to try something new!
GOAT CHEESE COOKIES
1 cup goat cheese
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
3 egg whites
sea salt
cracked black pepper
sesame seeds
1. Cream together goat cheese and sugar. Stir in flour and egg whites until smooth.
2. Thinly spread on a silicone sheet or parchment paper, and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and seeds. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes or so, depending on how thick it is. Colour should be golden brown when done.
3. Break or cut into desired shapes and serve either warm or cold.
NOTE: I found this recipe extremely sweet; I would recommend cutting the sugar in half.
That is so interesting. I always love learning about an intriguing new appetizer. Do you think it would pair well with wine? Hmm maybe smoky cheese? I dunno...
ReplyDeleteAmyRuth
Interesting recipe. Yes, I think it would be much better as a savory biscuit - with the sugar cut down by more than half. It's hard to convince yourself you're eating a true cookie when there's goat cheese, salt, black pepper and sesame seeds involved.
ReplyDeleteAmy, I think they probably WOULD go great with wine, but I'd still cut down on the sugar a bit. They were invented to go with liquor. :) I was hoping to have them with soup, but not so much.
ReplyDeleteLa Pastry Chef, I am going to try them again with much less sugar. I think they have a lot of potential in a savoury version, and since they are so easy to put together why the hell not try, eh? ;)
That's a great idea, I love goat cheese. You're right though, the whole cup of sugar does sound a bit excessive.
ReplyDelete