Cranberry-goat cheese canapes

Sunday was my family’s third annual holiday cookie baking party. This year we baked at my sister-in-law and brother’s house because they have 2 ovens. Even with 2 ovens we were still waiting in line for the next open spot.

I love our cookie baking parties. All the ladies in my family get together to bake and the guys get together and eat chicken wings and watch sports. If any of the guys wanted to bake they would be more than welcome to join us, but so far we’ve had no takers.

Our cookie baking party always starts off pretty chaotic. The ingredients crowd the kitchen, mixers are whirling, toddlers are running around. But I love this day. We end up with tons of cookies to take home and always have a lot of fun, despite the chaos.

This year we each brought an appetizer to share and I brought these cranberry-goat cheese canapes. Ever since my sis-in-law made this cranberry cream cheese dip I’ve been crazy over any recipe with cranberries.

This app was super good but I was missing a key ingredient that would have made it a thousand times better, cilantro. I actually had cilantro but when I went to use it I realized it had started to go bad. And since it was freezing and snowing yesterday I didn’t feel like going back to the grocery store for more. The cilantro would have added a brightness, a freshness that would have been awesome as well as pretty green flecks to make this appetizer the quintessential holiday app (the jalapeno gives the dish a hint of spiciness. Delicious).

Cranberry-goat cheese canapes (recipe via Southern Living)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries, chopped
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
3 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 Tbs. minced fresh jalapeno pepper (about 1/2 of a jalapeno)
3/4 tsp. grated fresh ginger
Baguette (or other canape bread), sliced about 1/2 inch thick
1 5.3 oz container spreadable goat cheese (or a plain goat cheese log at room temperature)

Preparation

1. Stir together first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Spread each baguette piece with goat cheese, and top with a small spoonful of cranberry mixture.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a holiday cookie recipe from our baking party. Happy Monday!