Cranberry Pecan Goat Cheese Appetizer (only 15 minutes prep!)

Simple yet festive, this Cranberry Pecan Goat Cheese appetizer  uses only five ingredients and comes together in under 15 minutes. This perfectly herbed, sweet and tangy goat cheese roll will wow your family and guests like during the holiday season.

Why I love this Cranberry Pecan Goat Cheese Log

• It’s a fun but simple holiday appetizer
• the pairing of cranberries, pecans and goat cheese is a match made in heaven
• You can pair it with your favorite crackers
• it looks fancy-pants but it’s really quite simple to make. The easier, the better!

Ingredients

• pecans – add a nutty flavor and some crunch texture
• fresh rosemary – brings a woodsy, holiday flair to the party. We’re gonna go out on a limb here and spring for fresh rosemary here.
• dried cranberries – they’re sweet and tart and the color contrition is amazing, right?
• goat cheese – it’s tangy and rich but spreadable. Divine!
• honey – for a touch of sweetness

How to Make a Goat Cheese Log

This no-cook appetizer comes together in 15 minute or less. That is music to my ears!

Step 1: Combine ingredients for the outside of the cheese log. Combine chopped pecans, rosemary leaves and cranberries in a small bowl or plate.

Step 2: Drizzle goat cheese with honey. Use two tablespoons of the honey for now and set aside the other tablespoon.

This will act as a our “glue” to make all the coating ingredients stick. Use your fingers or the back of a spoon to coat the goat cheese.

Step 3: Sprinkle the cranberry, pecan and rosemary on all sides. Sprinkle the ingredients over the entire cheese log and use clean fingers to press the ingredients into the log. You can use a firm hand to make everything adhere. Don’t forget the bottom and the sides!

Step 4: Drizzle honey on the serving platter. Spread the remaining tablespoon of honey on your serving plate or platter. This will hold our cranberry pecan goat cheese in place.

The last thing we want is people “chasing” their food around, you know???

Step 5: Add the rolled goat cheese log on top of the honey and garnish with your favorite crackers. Add a dip knife or butter knife so everyone can take a slice and spread the love!

You can sprinkle additional pecans, cranberries or a sprig of rosemary for garnish.

Enjoy!

Tips and Recipe Variations

I really do like fresh rosemary for this recipe. If you’re in a pinch and you really, really need to make this and you don’t have fresh rosemary, you can use dried. The color won’t be as rich and the flavor will be a little less pronounced. I’d cut back on the amount of rosemary used.

Be sure to cut the pecans, rosemary and cranberries into tiny pieces. We don’t want to grind them up, but we also don’t want large chunks. Uniformity is our friend here, plus we get to try out our knife skills a bit.

When preparing the rosemary, strip just the leaves of the herb. The “stalk” or stem is woody and you don’t want to use that part.

Double the recipe using an 8 ounce goat cheese log. Unlike a “normal” doubling of a recipe, increase the pecans and dried cranberries to 1/3 cup each and use 1.5 tablespoons of the chopped rosemary.

Refrigerate until serving.

What to serve with a cranberry goat cheese log

• Crackers
• Vegetables
• Apples or pear slices

Other holiday appetizers

• Make Ahead Holiday Appetizers
• Jalapeno Peach Dip
• BLT Dip

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