Sword in the Stone Cheese Bites: An Alison’s Wonderland Original Recipe ©

Posted January 7, 2016 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 3 Comments

We kicking off the New Year with the granddaddy of all classic stories: the legend of King Arthur! I’m a big fan of ancient myth and folklore (you should see my Irish myth collection), and the Arthurian legends are some of my favorites. What’s not to love about epic tales of grand quests, noble knights, and a brave king? In fact, the reason I waited so long to make a King Arthur menu was because I wanted to wait until I had enough blogging experience to do it justice. So here we go! 🙂

The appetizer for our King Arthur menu is inspired by the beginning of Arthur’s story: his retrieval of the sword from the stone. These easy, delicious cheese bites are just the right snack to kick off a long afternoon of knightly adventuring…or at least reading about knightly adventures! The perfectly British combo of Camembert and English cheddar is balanced with toasted nuts and sweet-tart dried cranberries—a truly kingly dish! 🙂

Sword in the Stone Cheese Bites

“Thereupon Arthur went to the cube of marble stone and he laid his hands upon the haft of the sword that was thrust into the anvil. And he bent his body and drew very strongly and, to! the sword came forth with great ease and very smoothly. And when he had got the sword into his hands, he swung it about his head so that it flashed like lightning.”
— The Story of King Arthur and His Knights

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz Camembert, in-rind
2 oz white English cheddar
2 tbsp dried cranberries
2 tbsp chopped pecans or walnuts, toasted
fresh ground pepper, to taste (I used about 1/4 tsp)
plastic cocktail swords
2 tbsp poppy seeds, optional

Makes approx. 16 cheese bites

INSTRUCTIONS:

In a medium bowl, finely shred your cheddar and scoop the soft Camembert cheese from inside its rind, discarding the rind. Stir together everything except the poppy seeds until well combined. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill for 25-30 minutes or until firm (but not hard).
Remove the plastic wrap and roll the cheese mix into balls approximately 1 1/4 inches across.
If you want, you can end the recipe right here. Just stick the swords into the balls and call it day! That’s what I did for the intro pictures so you could see what’s in each ball. But if you want to go for the true stone look, pour your poppy seeds onto a plate, roll the balls in the seeds, and place the finished balls on a plate. Lightly cover with plastic wrap and chill for 10 minutes or until firm again.

The poppy seed balls don’t photograph particularly well (which is why I didn’t use them for my main post pictures), but I love the stone look you get from them. 🙂
Insert the cocktail swords into the top of each ball (depending on the variety of sword you get, you may need to snap an inch off the end of each sword to make them look realistic).
Serve to the bravest knights in all the land! 🙂