Minted Goat Cheese

This recipe was put together during an unusually prolific period of trying new appetizers. I originally made it to go over fresh figs and then to use inside a grilled strip of zucchini rolled around the cheese with a sprig of mint added as a garnish. It was tweaked several times before becoming what it is at this time.


Ingredients:
4 oz mild goat cheese
4 oz mascarpone
10 large spearmint leaves
Half & Half

Directions:
The cheese spread id straight forward, just allow the cheeses to come to room temperature and mix together, adding a bit of half and half to get it to a spreading consistency or less to smooth out the texture if you're going to scoop it into phyllo cups as I did in the photos below. Once the consistency is the way you want it, add the finely chopped mint.

In the two photos above it was taken from the bowl with a small ice cream scoop and placed into phyllo cups where I added small sprigs of mint and then drizzled honey over the top.

For a different, spicier treatment I decided to experiment with a jalapeno jam that I had on hand. This too worked well in terms of flavor, but I think a red pepper jam or even a Mae Ploy sauce would taste as good, since it brings heat to the table, and furthermore it would look wonderful during the holidays.