These truffles are your next party staple. A step beyond plain cheese and crackers, while still being easy enough to make so that they don’t consume your whole day.

I love them for a few reasons:

1. Anything encrusted in pistachios is guarenteed to be good.
2. It’s essentially a ball of cheese. No complaints there.
3. The recipe is adaptable to size and flavour, not to mention you can make them days in advance.

I decided to make my truffles relatively small because they are really rich, plus it allows more people to try them if you’re serving them up at a party. Though they’re little, they pack a ton of protein and flavour so a little goes a long way.

I adapted this recipe from Half Baked Harvest. I had to change around a few things but I stuck pretty closely to the recipe and they turned out great! I crushed up the pistachios in a food processor with the red pepper flakes, which turned out pretty well but created a lot of “dust” and larger chunks as well. I’d recommend maybe crushing them by hand to get more consistent results; this is just a bit more work. Both methods are appropriate for this recipe.

Sidenote: I was planning on posting this before Christmas, but due to a big ice storm my internet was cut off for a few days. On that note, I hope you’ve all had a great holiday season! Ingredients

• 4 large cloves garlic, roasted (directions below)
• 1 (226g or 8oz) block of cream cheese, softened
• 2 tbsp. plain greek yogurt
• 1 tbsp. fresh savoury (can be substituted with oregano)
• 1 tbsp. fresh marjoram
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
• 1/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, plus one tsp. oil from jar
• 4-5 kalamata olives, pitted
• 1 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 cups roasted pistachios, shelled and chopped

Method

To roast garlic: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cut a small amount off the top and bottom of each cloves, then place on a square of aluminum foil. Drizzle lightly with olive oil, and wrap the cloves tightly in the foil. Roast for 35 minutes, remove from oven and allow to cool completely before using.

In the bowl of a food processor, add the cream cheese, yogurt and roasted garlic. Process until smooth and creamy; it should appear fluffy. Add in the savoury, marjoram and basil, and blend until well mixed. Once well combined, add the crumbled feta, sun-dried tomatoes plus the oil, olives and pepper. Process until all ingredients have been significantly broken down, leaving no major chunks. A little bit of texture from the feta, tomatoes and olives is good—you just don’t want too much.

Transfer the mixture into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour. In the meantime, mix together the crushed pistachios and crushed red pepper in a bowl. Once the mixture has chilled, roll into coin-sized balls (roughly 3/4″). Roll each ball in the pistachio/red pepper mix, then either serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve. The truffles should be a room temperature when served, so if they have been in the fridge for a few hours, allow them about 30 minutes before eating. Served best with pita chips or other crunchy crackers.

Alternative “lazy” method: If you’re feeling lazy, once the mixture has chilled, just roll it into one giant ball, then roll that ball in the pistachio mix. If you were serving it at a party, people could just scoop the amount they wanted off the ball or cut slices off the a knife.