Goat Cheese Truffles

Cream cheese helps mellow the goat cheese tang and improves texture. Cold cheese is easier to roll - work quickly or refrigerate between batches. The variety of coatings creates a beautiful presentation. Bring to cool room temperature before serving or the cheese will be too firm.

Individual cheese portions rolled into small sphere or truffle shapes are a relatively modern American concept that emerged from the cheese ball tradition of the mid-20th century, refined for contemporary entertaining where individual servings and elegant presentation are prioritized. The cheese ball itself has American roots in the party food culture of the 1950s and 1960s, but the individually portioned truffle-style format — eliminating the communal sharing aspect — became fashionable from the 2000s onward as event catering and food styling developed more sophisticated aesthetics. Goat cheese (chèvre) as a refined culinary ingredient in the United States has a clear inflection point in the early 1980s, when Laura Chenel began selling fresh California chèvre to Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley in 1981, initiating an American artisan cheese movement that transformed goat cheese from an obscure import to a refrigerator staple. The technique of rolling soft goat cheese in varied coatings — herbs, nuts, seeds, or spices — draws on French and Mediterranean methods of presenting fresh chèvre as a composed dish. Serving multiple coatings in one presentation allows each truffle to be a distinct bite while the cheese remains consistent, a practical approach for parties where dietary preferences vary.