Goat Cheese Appetizer (Whipped)

close up of whipped goat cheese dip garnished with fresh herbs, honey and Aleppo flakes and served with slices of carrot, radish and kohlrabi.

Goat Cheese Appetizer (Whipped)

You can cover a log of goat cheese with a variety of toppings and call it a goat cheese appetizer, or you can whip up this beautiful, festive, and flavorful goat cheese dip! Artichokes, fresh herbs, and lemon are whipped into goat cheese for big herby flavor, then topped with the hot sweetness of honey drizzle and Aleppo flakes.

Course: dinner, lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: American, European-inspired

Keyword: tuna with goat cheese pasta sauce

Servings:

Calories: 74kcal

Author: Kathy Marshall

Equipment

1 food processor or blender, needed to make sauce

Ingredients

1/4 cup fresh dill reserve some to garnish
1/4 cup parsley or carrot tops!
1/2 can artichoke hearts rinsed, half for sauce, half for dish
4 oz. fresh goat cheese a.k.a. chevre
1 tsp herb mustard any dijon darker mustard
3 tsp honey 2 for dip and 1 to drizzle as garnish
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp finely ground white pepper sub ground black pepper
1/2 lemon juiced
2 pinches Aleppo pepper flakes for garnish sub red pepper flakes

Optional add in if dip is too thick

2 tbsp non-fat Greek yogurt see notes

Dipping Veggies

your choice of cut up veggies I used carrots, radishes and purple kohlrabi

Instructions

Add the fresh herbs to food processor and pulse/blend, scraping down sides, until the herbs are finely chopped, for about 10-20 seconds.
Add the artichoke hearts (fully drained and pressed a bit on paper towels to remove excess liquid) to the food processor and continue to blitz until they are well blended finely, another 10 seconds or so.
With the processor turned on, drop the goat cheese by the spoonful through the feeder tube until it is all added. Blend for 10-20 seconds if possible (may need the liquids). Stop and scrape down the sides with spatula.
Turn processor on again and add the mustard, honey and lemon juice one at a time, making sure the blending is occurring, stopping to scrape down the sides as needed.
At this point your dip should look green, smooth and slightly runny as in the photos, so that you can dip into it. It is lighter and less fatty, hence a tad runnier than other dips. Because there are variations in water content of goat cheese, amount of lemon juice in half a lemon, etc, the dip can vary from slightly runny to slightly stiff. If too stiff, you can add in some or all of the yogurt to thin it out.
I like to garnish with fresh herbs, then drizzle the honey (which I microwave 20 seconds so it is runny), and sprinkle a good amount of Aleppo flakes for a little heat! Serve immediately or chill for a few hours or overnight. It will stiffen some after chilling, but not too much, since there is little fat in the dip.
Chop/slice up your vegetables to dip as shown. Can dip whatever veggies, crackers, etc. that you like, of course.

Notes

Optional Greek yogurt- sometimes this dip whips up more runny than other times, which you can control with the amount of lemon juice. If a batch you whip up feels a bit too stiff, you can add in some or all of the 2 tbsps of Greek Yogurt.

Nutrition