Easy Canapé Recipe: "Pretty Round Bites"

A friend of mine loved "apps" so much that when he was a kid, his Mom used to make every Wednesday night "Appetizer Wednesday" at home. She would serve a variety of little hors d'oeuvres instead of a conventional dinner for the family. What a Mermaid move.

Often times, I'd much rather order a few  little 'starters' to share with friends at a restaurant instead of a meal. Cocktails and canapés go together like Mermaids and martinis. With that in mind, I'd love to highlight one of my favorite canapés to serve at a cocktail party.  Pretty Round Bites, i.e. Pistachio, grape and goat cheese balls.  Let me show you just how pretty (and EASY) these are to create.

Start with 2 ingredients: A goat cheese log and a bunch of red seedless grapes. 

 

Next, introduce your third and final ingredient, pistachios.  I usually purchase one large bag for this recipe.  Remove the shells from the pistachios.  Then, toast them lightly in a pan. Do not use oil in the pan.

Pour your toasted pistachios into a large Ziploc bag and crush them.  I just use a heavy spoon and bang away on the top of the bag--this is also good for stress relief. :)

Slice the goat cheese to create little round discs and flatten them.  

Insert one grape in the center of each goat cheese disc. Next, mold the goat cheese around the grape so it is completely covered and takes the shape of a ball.

Take your goat cheese grape ball and roll that around the crushed pistachios until all sides are evenly covered.

Put balls on a pan. Chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours.

Remove from refrigerator, slice each one in half and place on a pretty tray. I like to turn some of them upside down and I always leave a couple of the balls uncut for presentation.  Aren't they pretty? They taste even better than they look!

Clearly, these were well-received by my friends. A few were spared and still tasted great the next day.

XO