4 of our Best Cheese Recipes (including Truffle Mac and Cheese)

For most of us in the northern hemisphere, it’s a beautiful time of year. The trees are bursting with leaves, the flowers are full of color, and there’s a rich profusion of vegetables, fruits and other foods sprouting from the newly awakened land. This is a time for new flavors, a time of fresh recipes and adventurous culinary experiments.
But what really excites us is that this is fresh cheese season. The cows and the goats and the sheep have nourished themselves on spring’s life-giving pastures, enriching their milk with pastoral, potent youth. Now, we turophiles (read: cheese-lovers) are gathering spring cheeses, and looking to impress our guests with the creamiest and tastiest cheese recipes.
So, let’s get started. Here we present some of our all-time favorite cheese-based recipes that we’ve created over the years, ranging from Truffle Mac and Cheese to chevre-filled dates to camembert-raspberry tarts.

Truffle Mac and Cheese

There are so many amazing mac and cheese recipes out there, but we can’t get enough of this one, imbued with luscious creamed cheese and truffle. Elbow pasta is cooked in a rich sauce of heavy cream and Parmigiano Reggiano, and infused with truffle salt and truffle oil for added punch. A sprinkle of aromatic fresh black truffle on top gives it rustic, earthy charm. The truffle doesn’t overpower that all-important creamy-cheesy goodness, but instead adds a little extra oomph to take this mac n cheese into the realm of awesomeness. The beauty of this recipe is that it’s quick and easy to prepare, yet has all the hallmarks of a more sophisticated mac and cheese dish.

View the Recipe online.

Poppyseed Phyllo Rolls

If your cheese platter is missing that one extra appetizer, these poppyseed phyllo rolls are a life-saver. Using ready-made phyllo dough sheets you can prep this in no time. Simply cut the sheets into semicircles, coat them in melted butter, salt, pepper and grated Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese. Then roll them into cylinders, add some egg-wash and poppyseeds, then bake in the oven for some crunchy bites that will perfectly complement your other cheese accoutrements.

View the recipe online.

Goat Cheese and Serrano Ham Dates

These bite-sized tasters have it all: a creamy core of semi-melted, herb-infused chevre, embraced by sweet dates tightly wrapped in Serrano ham and basil. Skewered on bamboo sticks and lightly grilled, they’re deceptively straightforward to prepare in spite of their contrasting, exquisite flavors.

View the recipe online.

Baked Camembert and Raspberry Jam Mini-Tarts

Of course, cheese doesn’t always have to be savory, so we had to include at least one sweet recipe in our list. For this recipe, sweet tart shells are filled with a delectable mixture of camembert and raspberry jam, topped with a crispy walnut, and baked in the oven just long enough for the cheese to melt and mix in with the jam, so that’s it’s all gooey and buttery and sweet and when you bite into it there’s a perfect crunch contrasting with the creamy-sweetness of the filling. Mmm...

View the recipe online.