A New Kind Of Truffle

My weekend was filled with lots of time with girlfriends, yummy food, and a bit of relaxation. Thank goodness I have one more day off of work (in honor of MLK) and will have plenty of time to do the necessary cleaning of my apartment, laundry, and to stock up on groceries for the week. Before I get to that for the rest of the day, I just HAD to share with you a new appetizer I made this past weekend for a blogger get together at Jillian's. Remember when I asked you all for appetizer advice a few Foodie Fridays ago? Well, I took one of the ones from that list and made it my own.

Grape, Goat Cheese, & Pistachio "Truffles"

(makes 20)

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of Pistachios, removed from their shells

- 1 (8 oz) log of goat cheese, at room temperature

- 20 grapes, washed with stems removed

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and toast your Pistachios on an ungreased baking sheet for 7 minutes.

2. Allow the nuts to cool for a few minutes, and then place in a food processor to finely chop.  

3. Place the chopped Pistachios in a small bowl that you will use for coating. (I set up an assembly line with the goat cheese, grapes, and nuts to make this process pretty easy.)

4. Take 1/2 a tbsp of goat cheese and place in the palm of your hand. 

5. Place a grape in the goat cheese in your hand and coat the grape. 

6. Then roll the coated grape in the nut bowl until it is covered with the chopped Pistachios, and place it on a baking sheet. 

7. Repeat the process with all of the grapes, and allow them to set for about 15 minutes. 

8. Then place them in the refrigerator to cool for about 15 minutes before serving. 

I definitely plan on making these again, they were quite the hit!

For a few other tasty treats from the get together, check out these from two of my favorite ladies. Lesley's Mexican Wontons and Lara's 8 Layer Dip. They were both delicious!