Goat Cheese and Mint Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes - 52 Church Potluck Appetizers

Goat Cheese and Mint Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes Little beautiful gems. Sweet Cherry Poppers, sliced and stuffed with Creamy Herbal Goat Cheese. Made pretty for any bring and share occasion. Simple, only a few ingredients and ALWAYS A CROWD PLEASING PLATE!

There are only a couple of tips...

Be sure to trim just a tiny bit of the bottom so that they stand up.

Only slice down from the top no more than half way.  Any further and the tomatoes will split when you pipe in the cheese.

And final tip is to do the prep work in advance (Slice the tomatoes and fill the piping bag).  But do the finish work on site just as you place the serving plate down.  It only takes seconds to fill them.  If you fill in advance, the tomatoes will move and the finished look will not stay.

And of course, they will be the BEAUTY of any potluck table!

OK... Here's what I did...

Goat Cheese and Mint Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes

Ingredients

• 24 (about 1 Pint) Cherry Tomatoes. Bottom trimmed so they stand flat, then top has criss cross cuts to form an X, cut no more than 1/2 way down the tomato.
• 4 Ounces Soft Goat Cheese
• 1 TBS Finely chopped Fresh Mint
• 1-2 TBS Heavy Cream
• You will also need a Pipping Bag With a narrow star tip
• Ribbons of fresh mint for Garnish
• Dried Beans or Popcorn For making an attractive display

Cooking Directions

1. You can do all of the prep work for these ion advance, including loading the piping bag. It takes only a couple of minutes to fill the tomatoes. If done in advance, it is difficult to keep them arranged on the plate and still look attractive.
2. Prepare the Cheese, mix together the cheese, mint and a bit of the cream. The cheese should be soft but still firm enough to hod it's shape. Continue to add cream as needed to soften.
3. Now prepare the Tomatoes. Slice a very tiny bit from the bottom so each tomato will stand up on it's own. Then make two slices in the very top, forming an "X". Slice no more than half way down the tomato,
4. Arrange the tomatoes on a serving plate, Fill the bottom with something that will help make the tomatoes stand up. I prefer some fry beans. I have also used unpopped popcorn.
5. Now, fill the piping bag with narrow star tip with the cheese mix.
6. Pipe in a tsp worth into each tomato.
7. Garnish with ribbons of fresh mint.
8. Serve chilled and ENJOY!

Looks beautiful on a cheese board or for any excuse for a pot luck. A real stand out dish!

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This recipe has been added to my growing list of "52 Church PotLuck Dishes"!

A list of something NEW worthy of being shown off at a neighborhood BYODish (Bring Your Own Dish) Party, a Family special occasion dinner, Any Big Holiday Gathering or of course that glorious day when you bring a dish to share with your Church family...

Ages ago, literally almost a half century ago I was listening to our pastor talking about a PotLuck Dinner. It happened to be scheduled around a church work day when we were expected to weed, polish and do general cleaning and maintenance around the church (you know, back in the day when there were no no-wax floors and church pews smelled of Old English furniture polish). I am of course paraphrasing, but as I recall the pastor said,

"A potluck, like a church requires work. At a potluck everyone is expected to contribute.. At a church no one should come empty handed and no one should leave unfed".

I will confess that in my youth I brought more store bought plastic spoons and forks than I ever brought covered dishes and crock pots of fresh made love and caring delights. But now that I have become a hobbyist cook, I occasionally am reminded of those days and people from my youth. I reminded and I do wish that I could drop a dish of some new creation on those old tables at my fondly remembered Liberty Baptist Church.  Tables covered with newspapers and loaded with God's bounty prepared with love and caring... Enjoy

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