Great Appetizer: Cheese Balls With Apple

I recently attended a wine tasting at the home of Carol and Rand. I was asked to bring an appetizer. The hosts were providing all the wine and other beverages, and the guests all brought appetizers. What a wonderful array of both food and wine we all enjoyed. Street tacos, home made hummus with special Turkish bread from a bakery downtown, artichoke and parmesean cheese dip, shrimp and cocktail sauce, salad, roasted veggies, and cheese balls with apple. I saw a similar recipe on a new favorite website of mine, pinterest.com. I have adapted it a bit and came up with this. Everyone seemed to like it. They were all gone quickly, and they look so pretty. I used toothpicks to hold the cheese and apple together, but you could also use popsicle sticks, available at Michaels or JoAnnes.

                                 Goat Cheese Balls With Apple

  4 ounces goat cheese 6 ounces cream cheese (block, not whipped) 2 tsp thyme Blend ingredients in food processor until completely mixed, then refrigerate while you prepare the next step. 4 slices of bacon, cook crisp 1/4 cup pecans salt and pepper to taste Blend ingredients in a food processor until mixture is very fine, almost like sand. It will get a little wet, which is fine. Put it in a flat bowl. Roll the cheese into balls, about 1 inch in diameter. The mixture should make about 20 balls. Then roll each ball in bacon-pecan mixture, pressing the mixture into the ball to make sure it sticks. I refrigerated them overnight at this point, but that is not necessary. Core an apple, and make thin slices. Dip the slices in lemon to prevent them from browning. I cut each slice in half and put a cheese ball on top, then held them together with a toothpick. You can make the balls with or without the apple, but everyone agreed that the apple added some nice crunch and sweetness. Enjoy.