Culture Magazine

ENTERTAINING 202 3 culturecheesemag.com 11 NEW & NOTEWORTHY T hese bespoke, colorful bites are as at home on a hastily prepared cheese board when unexpected guests pop in the day after Thanksgiving as they are in an elegant box presented as a hostess gift on New Year's Eve. The base is created by combining a log of grocery store goat cheese with cream cheese to reinforce the tang, or mascarpone to round it out. The ratio of chèvre to cream cheese or mascarpone is generally three-to- one, but it will vary slightly based on how crumbly the former is. The final consistency of the base, when chilled for an hour, should yield generous tablespoons that easily roll into uniform, bite-sized spheres with very little residue left on your hands. There are three basic ways to add flavor and texture to goat cheese truffles. The mix-in technique is a bit more complex than its counterparts. This is because adding ingredients like chopped, dried apricots; or rolling the ball in dried herbs de Provence to coat it, affects the base's overall consistency. Mixing in a teaspoon of Calabrian chili flakes for a spicy chevre truffle won't alter the base's ability to be cleanly rolled into balls. But adding melted chocolate, for example, will make the base too soft to roll—a condition remedied by stirring in either confectionary sugar or cocoa powder, in this instance. Flavor (and textural) combinations well- suited for truffles are only limited by your palate and imagination. Lemon pistachio is a tried-and-true combination of zest mixed into the base, then rolled in chopped, toasted pistachios. Another reliable duo is stuffing Grand Marnier–soaked dried cranberries into the center of the truffles before they are rolled in finely ground walnut dust. More unorthodox, but still very tasty, combinations include mixing honey and lime zest into the base and rolling the balls in mild chili powder, or sweetening the base with maple syrup, stuffing them with crispy bacon bits, and rolling the balls in crushed pretzels. How long your chèvre truffles keep in the refrigerator depends on the freshness of raw ingredients. Buy chèvre, cream cheese, and mascarpone with use-by dates as far in the future as possible. Once assembled, they will keep for about a week in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator. If you need a longer shelf life, consider covering them in olive oil in a jar and calling them "marinated chèvre truffles." c Basic goat cheese truffles recipe on p. 54. Ballin' Out CHÈVRE TRUFFLE VARIATIONS MAKE FOR EASY ENTERTAINING written and photographed by Christine Burns Rudalevige DIY NEW! AGED SHEEP GOUDA Our decadent cheese is crafted with pure sheep's milk from our family farm partners in Holland. Aged for over 9 months, Holy Sheep emits a subtle nutty sweetness with notes of dry hay and a clean pastoral aroma.

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