CHEVRE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES: National Goat Cheese Day

Toady is National Goat Cheese Day. Goat Cheese has been produced for over 4000 years. It's such a wonderful cheese, and it goes well with chocolate, too. 

I'm a huge fan of Cypress Grove Chevre. They have a great variety of goat cheeses from Humboldt Fog to Bermuda Triangle to Sgt. Pepper to Purple Haze, and everything in between. If you're a big goat cheese fan, you might want to consider a cake made of wheels of their cheese! Who wouldn't want a beautiful cake made of cheese wheels like the one on the right?

The following recipe for Goat Cheese Chocolate Truffles works well with any Chevre, so you can use whatever is available to you. Make sure it's fresh. This specific goat cheese truffle recipe really highlights the chevre, so mix is up and try other goat cheeses to see what you like best. I use Humboldt Fog which has a very distinct taste, but you might want to make your first batch with a more mild chevre. Humboldt Fog has a subtle, tangy flavor and distinctive layer of edible vegetable ash. Of course, different chocolate will also make a difference in flavor. Enjoy!

Chevre Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients
6 1/2 ounces bittersweet dark chocolate, chopped
7 ounces fresh Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog chevre, room temperature  (or a Chevre of your choosing)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder, for rolling

Directions
Melt chocolate in top of double boiler or metal pot over another pot over simmering water. Mix chevre and sugar in medium-size bowl. Stir in melted chocolate and mix until smooth.
Refrigerate an hour to overnight.
When ready to make truffles, roll heaping teaspoons of refrigerated mixture into small balls, then roll balls in cocoa powder.
Chill on sheet pan until ready to serve or keep 3 to 4 days in refrigerator.

Goats by the side of my house

Goat Cheese Chocolate Chip Cheesecake: National Cheesecake Day

Today is National Cheesecake Day. I've posted so many Chocolate Cheesecake Recipes over the years, but here's one of my favorites: Goat Cheese Chocolate Chip Cheese Cake. In my area, there are so many wonderful goat cheeses available. As always in any recipe, the quality and taste of your Goat Cheese Chocolate Chip Cheese Cake will vary with the cheese and chocolate you choose, so choose wisely--and experiment. If you're new to goat cheese, start with a mild one. Ask your local cheese purveyor.

Here's the recipe I use for Goat Cheese Chocolate Chip Cheese Cake. I think the recipe was originally from Whole Foods. I'm sure the original recipe didn't use a Chocolate Crust, but I'm all about Chocolate, and this recipe works well with it. I also added Chocolate Chips, because once again, you can never have enough chocolate. I use mini-chocolate chips in cheesecake rather than regular because the bigger chips sometimes sink to the bottom. That's not really a bad thing because it just means your crust will be that much more chocolatey! So you can decide. When you use the mini-chocolate chips, you also see the chips in the cheesecake.

Goat Cheese Chocolate Chip Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust

Crust
1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs (whirl in blender or just crush with rolling pin between two sheets of waxed paper)
1/4 cup melted unsalted butter

Combine crumbs and butter and press into the bottom of a 9” springform pan.

Cheesecake

Ingredients
16 ounces cream cheese, cut into pieces (softened)
12 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled (leave out to soften, and it will be more crumbly)
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp Madagascar vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
about 8 ounces dark mini-chocolate chips (must be mini or they'll sink to the bottom)*

Directions
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Place cream cheese, goat cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla in large mixing bowl.
Using mixer, beat until just smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as you go.
In two or three additions, beat in sugar until mixture is creamy.
Add eggs, one at time, beating and scraping down sides of bowl after each addition. Continue to beat until mixture is very smooth.
Fold in mini-chocolate chips.
Pour batter into prepared crust.
Bake about 50-60 minutes.
Place pan on a rack to cool completely in the pan.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.
Run spatula along side to loosen; remove sides of pan.

Chevre Chocolate Truffles: We all Love Goats!

I spent the day yesterday at the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. Chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. Oh yes, there were other foods, but chocolate was definitely on the menu. Over the next week or so, I'll be letting you know what's new, posting recipes featuring some of the new products, reviewing the products, and lmore! I'm back to the show today, so I thought I'd post one easy recipe for you.

I'm a huge fan of Cypress Grove Chevre. They have a great variety of goat cheeses from Humboldt Fog to Bermuda Triangle to Sgt. Pepper to Purple Haze, and everything in between. Their displays each year at the Fancy Food Show are spectacular, and this year's was the best ever. Who wouldn't want a beautiful cake made of cheese wheels?

The following recipe for Goat Cheese Chocolate Truffles will work well with any Chevre, so you can use whatever is available to you. Make sure it's fresh. This specific goat cheese truffle recipe (I've posted others) really highlights the chevre, so mix is up and try other goat cheeses to see what you like best. I use Humboldt Fog which has a very distinct taste, so you might want to make your first batch with a more mild chevre. Humboldt Fog has a subtle, tangy flavor and distinctive layer of edible vegetable ash. Of course, different chocolate will also make a difference in flavor. Enjoy!

Chevre Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients
6 1/2 ounces bittersweet dark chocolate, chopped
7 ounces fresh Cypress Grove Humboldt Fog chevre, room temperature  (or a Chevre of your choosing)
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder, for rolling

Directions
Melt chocolate in top of double boiler or metal pot over another pot over simmering water.  Mix chevre and sugar in medium-size bowl. Stir in melted chocolate and mix until  smooth.
Refrigerate an hour to overnight.
When ready to make truffles, roll heaping teaspoons of refrigerated mixture into small balls, then roll balls in cocoa powder.
Chill on sheet pan until ready to serve or keep 3 to 4 days in refrigerator.

EASY GOAT CHEESE TRUFFLES: THE YEAR OF THE GOAT

恭賀發財 Gung Hay Fat Choy! This is the Year of the Ram (Year of the Goat, Year of the Sheep). Chinese New Year begins today.

O.K. why the confusion of the symbol for this year, as opposed to last year--the Year of the Snake..or prior years: the Year of the Rat, the Year of the Horse, etc.? An article in NBC News explains this creature confusion in 2015. 

It all stems from the fact that the Chinese use one character for horned animals — translated as "yang" in Mandarin, according to Chinese and linguistics professor Wei Hong. Yang, when used to mean goat, is seen as something strong with a "quiet spirit," Hong said. A sheep is considered softer. 

The NBA's Golden State Warriors unveiled Chinese New Year-themed uniforms that they will wear Friday to celebrate what the team calls the Year of the Goat. Meanwhile, the New York City Council is hosting a Lunar New Year event next week touting a Year of the Ram revelry. Geography can also make a difference. Sheep are raised in northern China, while goats are more common in southern China, which plays into what the year is called depending on one's location.

Generally, people in mainland China seem to be keen on calling it the Year of the Goat — a nod to the country's culinary past, Hong said after reading news reports on the confusion. But she suggests English-speakers don't need to lock horns over the debate, and might want to go authentic: Year of the Yang.

So to celebrate Chinese New Year on this blog, I'm going with Year of the Goat--and goat cheese.  I live in the foodie San Francisco Bay Area. There's always great fresh goat cheese at the market and the Farmers Markets. I especially love goat cheese from the Cowgirl Creamery and Redwood Hill Farm. You should be able to find fresh goat cheese at Whole Foods and other local farmers markets.  As always, use the very best freshest cheese and fresh high quality chocolate.

I've posted different recipes for Goat Cheese Chocolate Truffles, but this is a really easy one that I found on Epicurious. This recipe originally appeared in Gourmet Magazine, October 1993.

I love the tangy, yet sweet taste of these truffles, and the little bit of lemon gives these truffles a very unique flavor.  For your first time making these, choose a mild goat cheese. A really tangy goat cheese can overpower the sweetness in the chocolate, and it won't be to everyone's taste.


GOAT CHEESE CHOCOLATE TRUFFLES

Ingredients
6 ounces dark chocolate (60-75% cacao organic fair trade chocolate), chopped
6 ounces (about 3/4 cup) room temperature fresh goat cheese
2 Tbsp confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp Madagascar vanilla
1/8 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder, sifted, for coating truffles

Directions
In metal bowl set over pan of barely simmering water, melt chocolate, stirring until smooth. Remove bowl from pan, and let chocolate cool slightly.
In different bowl whisk together goat cheese, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice until mixture is light and fluffy. Whisk in chocolate until mixture is combined well. Chill mixture, covered, for 1 hour, or until firm.
Form heaping teaspoons of mixture into balls and roll balls in cocoa powder.
Chill truffles on baking sheet lined with waxed or parchment paper for 30 minutes, or until firm.
Truffles keep in airtight container, chilled, for 3 days.

恭賀發財 Gung Hay Fat Choy!

Chocolate Hazelnut Goat Cheese Spread

Last year on the Months of Edible Celebrations Picnic Game, I posted a recipe for a Green Salad with Goat Cheese, Cocoa Nibs with a Chocolate Hazelnut Vinaigrette. At the end of the post I also added a Chocolate Hazelnut Goat Cheese Spread that would be great on a baguette to accompany the salad. Several people didn't scroll that far, so I thought I'd repost the recipe as a separate entry--a year later! This Chocolate Hazelnut Goat Cheese spread is perfect on crackers, too! And, it's so easy!

Chocolate Hazelnut Goat Cheese Spread

Ingredients
2 1/2  ounces dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
4  Tbsp chopped hazelnuts, toasted
1   8 ounce goat cheese log

Directions

Combine chocolate and hazelnuts in food processor and pulse until chocolate and nuts are finely ground. Don't over process. It's nice to have some texture!

Roll goat cheese log in mixture, pressing to coat all sides. 

(Moisten cheese with damp hands if mixture doesn't stick)

Add a knife to your picnic basket and use as a 'cheese' spread at the picnic!

Goat Cheese Chocolate Chip Cheesecake

Today is National Cheese Day. Chocolate goes so well with so many different cheeses, but I'm partial to goat cheese. Make a Goat Cheese Chocolate Chip Cheese Cake today! So many wonderful goat cheeses available. As always, the quality and taste of your Goat Cheese Chocolate Chip Cheese Cake will vary with the cheese and chocolate you choose, so choose wisely--and experiment. If you're new to goat cheese, start with a mild one. Ask your local cheese purveyor.

Here's the recipe I use for Goat Cheese Chocolate Chip Cheese Cake. I think the recipe was originally from Whole Foods. Whole Foods stores always have a great selection of goat cheese, all over the country. I'm sure the original recipe didn't use a Chocolate Crust, but I'm all about Chocolate, and this recipe works well with it. I also added Chocolate Chips, because once again, you can never have enough chocolate. I use mini-chocolate chips in cheesecake rather than regular because the bigger chips sometimes sink to the bottom. That's not really a bad thing because it just means your crust will be that much more chocolatey! So you can choose. When you use the mini-chocolate chips, you see the chips in the cheesecake.

Goat Cheese Chocolate Chip Cheesecake with Chocolate Crust

Crust
1 cup chocolate wafer crumbs (whirl in a blender or just crush with rolling pin between two sheets of wax paper)
1/4 cup melted sweet butter

Combine crumbs and butter and press into the bottom of a 9” springform pan

Cheesecake
16 ounces cream cheese, cut into pieces (softened)
12 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled (leave out to soften, and it will be more crumbly)
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons Madagascar vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups sugar
4 eggs
about 8 ounces dark mini-chocolate chips (must be mini or they'll sink to the bottom)*

Pre-heat oven to 325°F.
Place cream cheese, goat cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
Using mixer, beat until just smooth, scraping down sides of the bowl as you go.
In two or three additions, beat in sugar until mixture is creamy.
Add eggs, one at time, beating and scraping down sides of bowl after each addition. Continue to beat until mixture is very smooth.
Fold in mini-chocolate chips.
Pour batter into prepared crust.
Bake about 50-60 minutes.
Place pan on a rack to cool completely in the pan.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.