Goat Cheese Croquettes with Lavender Honey

Photo courtesy of WineCountryTable.com -- Goat Cheese Croquettes from Barn Diva in Healdsburg.

What can I say...? I love goats. I love goat cheese. I love deep fried cheese. I love honey (especially from our bees at our urban farm and garden!). I love lavender (yep, we harvest our own lavender homegrown as well).

So when you happen to order the Goat Cheese Croquettes with Lavender Honey from Barn Diva in Healdsburg, all of the worlds you love come together for a perfect partnership! I digress for a moment to mention that SUR in Los Angeles also touts some amazing goat cheese balls (the knowledge and taste experience resulting from a guilty pleasure of watching The Real Housewives series!). So again, let's blend these worlds, shall we?

After some tweaking (surprise, surprise) I think the end result is a perfection! Not to big, not too small, just enough crisp to coat the warm goat cheese centers...and that honey! Honey, I have to tell you, it's amazing! Make these yummy bites and tell me what you think!

Here's what you will need:

• One 10oz log of Goat Cheese (Chèvre)

• 1 cup of Panko Japanese bread crumbs

• 1/4 cup of Cornstarch (if you don't have Cornstarch, don't sweat it, just substitute 1/4 of All-Purpose Flour)

• 1/4 cup of All-Purpose Flour

• 2-6 cups of canola oil or vegetable oil, for frying, dependent on size of your pot

• 1/8-1/4 cup of Club Soda (you can also substitute sparkling mineral water)

• 1 egg

• 1/4 cup Honey

• 1 TBL dried lavender

Instructions:

1. Cut the goat cheese log into 32 pieces (I do this by cutting the log into 8 rounds, then cutting each of the rounds into 4 pieces.

2. Then take each piece of goat cheese and roll it into a ball. Place the balls on a wax paper-lined sheet and place in the freezer until firm (about 10 minutes).

3. While the goat cheese is firming up, whisk the club soda/sparkling water and egg together in a small bowl. Set aside. If the egg is small, use 1/8 cup of club soda, if the egg is large, use 1/4 cup of club soda. If you don't have club soda or sparkling mineral water, just use water -- but the end result is much better with sparkly water.

4. In a food processor, grind up the Panko, Cornstarch, and Flour so all of the ingredients are a nice powder. Spread the panko mixturein a bowl or high rimmed plate.

5. Remove the goat cheese balls from the freezer. Dip each ball in the club soda/egg mixture to coat all over and then into the panko crumbs mixture and roll to coat all over. Repeat so that each ball is double coated in the egg mixture and panko crumbs mixture, then place back on the wax paper-lined sheet. When all 32 are done, place the sheet back in the freezer for another 10-15 minutes.

6. Let's prepare the lavender honey! Place honey and dried lavender In a small microwave safe cup or bowl, heat on low until honey reaches a fluid consistency so it is easy to drizzle. Set aside and let the lavender steep into the honey.

7. When you are ready to fry the goat cheese balls, pour the canola oil into a saucepan, at least 1.5-2″ high to cover the balls when frying. Heat to 375 F, or if you don’t have a thermometer about 5-8 minutes on high temperature. To test if it’s hot enough, drop a panko bread crumb in to see if it begins sizzling and frying.

8. Remove the goat cheese balls from the freezer. Gently place the goat cheese balls in batches into the hot oil. They fry extremely quickly (60-120 seconds usually) and should be removed when they are deep golden and crispy. Put them on a paper towel-lined plate and sit for 1-2 minutes. Do not over fry them...the goat cheese will disappear and melt away.

9. While the goat cheese balls are cooling, if you need to reheat to liquify your lavender honey, place in microwave and heat up for 10-15 seconds until the consistency is easy to drizzle.

10. Drizzle some lavender honey onto the bottom of the serving dish. Transfer the goat cheese balls on top of the drizzled honey and do a final drizzle with lavender honey on top.

11. Serve immediately.

Notes:

• You can make these goat cheese croquettes in advance and keep frozen for 1-5 days. Keep frozen and fry up as you need them.

• Freezing the goat cheese croquettes help the cheese not melt during the frying process. It also makes the croquettes easier to handle when breading.