These are fun, colourful and creative holiday appetizers that are simple and always a crowd pleaser. It’s so simple, savoury and healthy too. You can use sesame seeds, poppy seeds, ground walnuts, pistachio, or almonds finely chopped fresh herbs like dill, caraway seeds, garlic, parsley and spices like smoked paprika or any other spice that is on your favourite list. The rosemary sprigs are a perfect way to emphasize the Christmas theme.

It’s a simple idea… mix feta cheese with cream cheese and sour cream, add a bunch of toasted ground walnuts, and flavour with garlic and caraway.  You can make this as a spread too. I love feta but it can be too strong for some people to tame the flavour you can either soak in plain water for a few hours to draw out the salt or you can add more cream cheese to the mix.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 1/2 cup toasted ground walnuts, divided
  • 150 g feta cheese
  • 4 Tbsp sour cream, or creme fraiche
  • 4 Tbsp cream cheese
  • 2 garlic cloves, pressed
  • 1/2 tsp ground caraway seeds
  • Optional toppings: ground walnuts or other nuts, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sweet paprika, smoked paprika, chopped dill
  • Rosemary sprigs for decoration

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 F, and toast the walnuts for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
  2. Pulse the walnuts in a food processor, or nut mill, until finely ground. Separate 1/2 cup to use for topping.
  3. Mash the feta cheese with a fork, and add the sour cream, cream cheese, ground caraway, garlic and 1 cup of ground walnuts. Mix well, until fully combined.  Taste, and adjust the flavours if needed. Leave the mix in the fridge for 30 minutes if it gets too soft.
  4. Form bite-size balls, and roll them into sweet (smoked) paprika, ground walnuts, chopped dill,  sesame seeds, or other toppings.  Insert a rosemary sprig into each ball.  Chill in the fridge before serving.

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