The Perpetual Feast

Someone in my office requested that I bring goat cheese and the famous Jezebel Sauce to the office holiday potluck. Never one to leave well enough alone, I decided that I should fancy up the goat cheese.  Since Jezebel sauce is pretty spicy, I decided that I needed to make the logs either sweet or rather plain.  I rolled one of the logs in chopped, toasted pecans. I wrapped the other in cranberries.

This recipe for cranberry-wrapped goat cheese log appeared in my local paper and is just in time for holiday parties. The recipe called for a one-pound log of goat cheese, but the Costco logs are only 11 ounces. In retrospect, I should have combined 2 logs to create a fatter 16 ounce log, or used less of the cranberry wrap, since the log came out a bit uneven (but delicious).  I also would suggest chopping the cranberries coarsely, since I thought the whole cranberries were harder to wrap nicely.  The log travels well if you wait to unwrap the plastic wrap until you get to your destination.  You can make it ahead and refrigerate it for a day or so.

Cranberry Goat Cheese Log

1/4 ounce package of unsweetened gelatin
1/4 cup water
12 ounce package of fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cranberry juice
1/4 cup orange or raspberry liqueur (I used Cointreau)
16 ounce log of goat cheese

In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over water; set aside. Fill a large bowl with ice and water, set aside. In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, combine cranberries, sugar, cranberry juice and liqueur. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add gelatin mixture and boil, stirring occasionally, until mixture resembles a very thick jelly. Remove from heat and place the saucepan in the ice to cool.  (I actually poured the cranberry mixture into a medium bowl and set that on the ice, since my pot did not fit into the ice bowl very well.)

Once the cranberry sauce has cooled, lay an 18 inch sheet of plastic wrap on the counter. Spoon about 1/2 cup of the cranberry sauce on the plastic wrap, making an even rectangle slightly larger than the goat cheese log.

Place the goat cheese on top of the sauce. Spoon the remaining cranberry sauce mixture over the log, coating it evenly. Gently roll the log up in the wrap, using the plastic to mold the sauce around the cheese. Twist each end closed.

Note – I had trouble molding the sauce evenly. Note the misshapen wrapped log. This is why I think chopping the berries slightly might help.

Freeze for about 30 minutes to allow the cherry mixture to set.  Remove from the freezer and gently remove the plastic wrapper from the log placing the log on your serving platter

This makes 11-16 one ounce servings, at about 5 grams of fat/serving.

Thisis actually the leftover log I brought home.

I set the platter out with crackers and knives for serving.  The recipe suggested using unflavored dental floss to cut the log into one ounce pieces to serve it…but I liked the do-it-yourself log approach