Grown Up Ants on a Log
These Grown Up Ants on a Log are a unique hors d’ouerves, filled with a spiced goat cheese mixture, and topped with pecans and dried cherries.
When you hear “grown up ants on a log,” what do you think of? The quickest guess my mind comes up with is some sort of alcohol-spiked peanut butter. But for this recipe, there’s no peanut butter in sight. No raisins either.
Earlier this year I went to an event at the Pinterest offices in NYC that celebrated the release of the Beekman 1802 Heirloom Vegetable Cookbook, where the Beekman boys gave a presentation and we ate a bunch of the delicious recipes from the book.
To be honest, if I saw this recipe in the book just perusing through, it’s probably not a recipe I’d be inclined to try, but that night Alejandra and I cleared out a whole platter by ourselves.
In fact, everything I tried that night from the cookbook was REALLY good. And wow, if you have never heard of the Beekman Boys before or watched their TV show, they are SO inspiring and incredibly fun personalities. Love them!
Grown up ants on a log according to the Beekman boys is basically goat cheese celery bites, and I changed up some things in my own rendition. You can’t go wrong with either version.
To get started, combine a creamy goat cheese with mustard, ancho chile powder, honey, and salt:
Stir together until creamy smooth:
Place into a piping bag fitted with a star tip and pipe into celery bites:
Sprinkle with toasted pecans:
And chopped dried cherries:
Place on a platter:
Then watch them disappear! Enjoy.
Grown Up Ants on a Log
Ingredients
- 5.3 oz tub mild goat cheese*
- 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp honey
- 8 ribs celery
- 1/4 cup chopped pecans toasted
- 1/4 cup chopped dried cherries
Instructions
- In a small bowl, stir to combine the goat cheese, ancho chili powder, salt, mustard, and honey.
- Rinse the celery well, and pat dry. Cut into 1.5 inch pieces, and cut a small sliver off the bottom of the celery so it stands upright easily on a platter.
- Place the goat cheese mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star tip, then pipe the goat cheese into each piece of celery. Sprinkle with toasted pecans and dried cherries, then serve. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.