They say necessity is the mother of invention. I can’t even tell you how many dishes I come up with because I have leftovers in the fridge that I need to re-purpose, or certain ingredients that I need to use before they expire.

These little pepper bites are the happy confluence of having way too many peppadews (I often serve them standalone next to olives and cheese for a light app) and a huge amount of goat cheese that I bought for a get together which we ended up needing to postpone. So when asked to bring an app to a friend’s house, I knew there was something great that could come of these two ingredients.

The filling couldn’t be easier to put together, the peppers are quick to fill, and they look ever-so-cute on a serving platter. The lemony, garlicy, tangy goat cheese is such a great compliment to the pickled, slightly spicy peppers – it’s a party in your mouth.

Look for peppadews (red or yellow) in the olive bar section of your grocery store. If you can’t find them there, check the jarred peppers area, or you can substitute jarred piquillo peppers. They won’t have the same pickled flavor, but will be delicious in their own way.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

Goat Cheese Stuffed Peppadews

Prep Time15 mins

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 3 ounces soft goat cheese
• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 3 scallions chopped
• 2 small cloves garlic
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• Juice from half a lemon
• 30 roughly peppadews

Instructions

• In a small bowl, grate the garlic using a microplane. Squeeze the lemon juice over it, stir, and let sit for a few minutes.
• To the bowl add the goat cheese, cream cheese, and salt. Stir with a spoon to combine well. If hard to combine, let the cheeses sit out at room temperature for 10-15 minutes and they should soften enough to manage. Stir in the scallions.
• Use a rubber spatula to scrape into a small ziplock back or piping bag. Cut the tip off so there is a quarter inch opening. Squeeze the goat cheese into the peppadews so they are about ¾ full. If you have extra filling left over at the end, you can fill a few more peppers if you have them, or just add it to top off already filled peppers.

Tips & Tricks

• Can be made 2-3 hours ahead and refrigerated until serving.
• Most people don't have piping bags in their pantry. Here's a simple trick to make your own:
  • Find a suitably sized resealable bag and scoop in the mixture you'll be piping.
  • On the bottom of the resealable bag, cut the tip of one corner with a pair of kitchen shears. Start small- you can always increase the size of the opening.
  • Squeeze the bag from the top down.