Goat Cheese Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

All I’ve seen lately when looking at recipe sites is either recipes for the upcoming Superbowl (Go Broncos! Gotta cheer for my home team!) or sweets for Valentine’s Day. The Superbowl food is mostly fatty and full of grease and we all know what’s in the sweets. So after roaming around, I came across this neat blog post where food what turned into edible decorative flowers. I thought great! It’ll work for both the Superbowl and Valentine’s Day.

I made up my version of the cream cheese stuffed cherry tomatoes, chopping up some wonderfully fragrant and aromatic fresh rosemary leaves into goat cheese and then added a splash of olive oil and freshly ground black pepper. After stuffing the cherry tomatoes, I topped them with a sprinkle of black salt to finish them off. Finally, I placed them on a rosemary stem for the Valentine’s Day “flowers” and placed others into small muffin cup liners for serving up as Superbowl finger food that is not only yummy but healthy without making you feel like you’re eating health food.

The results were awesome and tasty (I’m sorry the pictures aren’t as good to show you how tasty and wonderful they look. I’ll have to attempt them again on another time)! I plan on using them as an appetizer for either occasion. Hehe, my hubby can’t say that I haven’t given him flowers this year cause the picture has a dozen of the tasty little guys just for his pleasure.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

2 oz. soft goat cheese, room temp.

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary

12-15 cherry tomatoes

black salt for sprinkling on top

12 stiff rosemary stems

Prepare by mixing the goat cheese with the olive oil and black pepper. Set aside while you prepare the tomatoes.

Cut the tomatoes in a plus shape from the top of the tomato to about half way through. Gently turn upside and squeeze carefully to remove some of the seeds and juice. Take a toothpick and carefully insert on the stem end to make a hole for the rosemary stem to insert into.

Put the goat cheese into a piping bag or a Ziploc bag with the tip cut to allow the cheese mix to squeeze through. Carefully fill each tomato to the top and then sprinkle with black salt to finish. Pop onto the rosemary stem or lay on the serving dish of your choice if serving up without the stems.

Double or triple recipe for larger crowds.

Makes 12 to 15 goat cheese stuffed tomatoes. 

More dual purpose appetizer and snack treats:

Sriracha Caramel Corn from Noms for the Poor

Shummai Recipe from China Sichuan Food

Balsamic Glazed Cauliflower “Wings” from Cupcakes and Kale Chips

Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls from Grab Your Spork

Pretzel Dog (mini) from Immaculate Bites