Warm Goat Cheese Fritters.  So deliciously crispy on the outside, smooth and creamy on the inside.  I love you.

I initially made these to pair with our Autumn Thyme Wedge Salad, where they became the star, thus worthy of their own recipe post.  So this morning I made them again, complete with their own photo shoot.  What I’ve discovered is Warm Goat Cheese Fritters are tasty enough to be served as an appetizer or brunch item, and need not be reserved for salads alone.

I started with a 4 ounce log of goat cheese (I used the honey flavored one), then cut it into 10 equal pieces.  Each piece is rolled into a ball then breaded….flour, egg, panko, repeat.  Once they are all breaded I pop them into the freezer while the oil comes up to temp.

It only takes a minute or so per side to get a nice crispy golden brown crust.  Serve the fritters warm with a drizzle of honey.  You’ll be licking your lips for more.

Whether you’re a goat cheese fan like me or an eh could go either way like others, when it comes to Warm Goat Cheese Fritters you’ll be a lover for certain.  There’s something about warm goat cheese that mellows it’s flavor, yet the richness remains.  I hope you’ll give these a try, your holiday guests will thank you.

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Warm Goat Cheese Fritters

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 40 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 1 4- ounce goat cheese log I used honey flavored
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup flour
• 1 1/2 – 2 cups panko bread crumbs
• sunflower or other high heat oil for frying
• honey for serving

Instructions

• Cut goat cheese log in half lengthwise, then cut each half into 5 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Reserve.
• Set up a breading station. I begin with one beaten egg in bowl #1. 1/2 cup flour in bowl/plate #2. 1 cup panko in bowl/plate #3. Dip each goat cheese ball into flour, then egg, then panko and repeat. Continue until all balls have been breaded, adding additional egg, flour and panko as needed. Place breaded balls onto a plate and put into freezer for 10 – 15 minutes.
• In a small skillet heat 1-inch of oil to 375 degrees. Working in small batches fry fritters about 1 minute per side until golden brown. Remove to drain on paper towels. Serve warm, delicious drizzled with honey.

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I can make Homemade Slider Buns.  So what am I waiting for?

And just like that I had pulled the 6 ingredients from the fridge and pantry and was on my way.

This Homemade Slider Bun recipe is an Eat Out of the Fridge/Pantry Recipe.  And out of necessity (freezer and pantry doors are bulging), I made two fantastic slider recipes.  Korean Pork & Kimchi Sliders and Buffalo Shrimp Sliders with Cool Ranch Sauce coming soon.

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Homemade Slider Buns

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 30 minutes minutes

Servings 16

Author adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 2 Tbl. active dry yeast
• 1 cup plus 2 Tbl. warm water 110-115 degrees
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 – 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• sesame or poppy seeds for topping optional

Instructions

• In a large bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. Whisk in vegetable oil and sugar. Allow to rest for 5-minutes.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• Add the egg, salt and enough flour to form a soft dough (I used about 3 1/4 cups).
• Turn out onto a well floured surface and knead for 3-5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide into 2 balls; then cut each into 8 smaller balls. Do not allow to rise. Place 3-inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets, cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Sprinkle tops with sesame or poppy seeds, optional.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

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As a kid who grew up eating frozen fish sticks at least once a week, and loving them I might add….imagine my delight when I was introduced to frozen battered shrimp.  Oh my word.  What a treat.  Well….that was then, and these from scratch Crispy Fried Shrimp are definitely NOW.

We’re so fortunate to have access to fresh Georgia Shrimp and while thawed frozen shrimp work just fine….fresh is always best.

Our battering process consists of a dredge in seasoned flour, swim in egg and/or buttermilk, and a final dredge in panko crumbs.

Recipe tips:  Once the shrimp are battered, chill them on a baking sheet for about 30 minutes to be sure the coating adheres during frying.  Once fried, drain them on brown paper bags, they’re much more absorbent than paper towels and the shrimp won’t stick.

Whether oven fried or deep fried these shrimp can easily become a meal.  Load them into a hoagie roll with a little classic coleslaw for a yummy Shrimp Po-Boy.

Toss them in sweet & spicy creamy chili sauce and voila…. Bang Bang Shrimp!!

Fried shrimp cuddled up to individual grit cakes makes for a fantastic Deconstructed Shrimp & Grits appetizer of love!

Crispy fried shrimp tossed in hot wing sauce, become the irresistible Buffalo Shrimp.  Served with a side of Homemade Buttermilk Ranch and you’ll be in finger licking heaven.

Adding coconut & almonds to the panko coating adds a hint of sweet to our Coconut Almond Shrimp.  Serve these with a side of sweet & spicy orange sauce for a crowd pleasing appetizer.

Perhaps my favorite way to indulge on Crispy Fried Shrimp is dunking them into Crispy Caper Tartar Sauce.  Takes me back.

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Crispy Fried Shrimp

Servings 2 -4

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

• 1 lb. large shrimp peeled & deveined
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper optional
• egg beaten
• 1/2 cup buttermilk or milk
• 1-2 cups panko breadcrumbs
• oil for frying canola or peanut

Instructions

• Set up three bowls for the battering process. In bowl one combine flour, pepper, salt & cayenne. In bowl two, whisk together egg and buttermilk. In bowl three add 1 cup of panko breadcrumbs to begin (add more as needed).
• Line shallow rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Working in small batches, dip shrimp into flour, then egg, then panko. Place on baking sheet. Chill coated shrimp for 30 minutes before frying.

For deep frying…

• Heat 3-inches of oil in a large pot to 375 degrees. Fry shrimp in small batches, 2-3 minutes until golden brown. Drain on brown paper bags.

For oven frying…

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray baking sheet with olive oil spray. Arrange battered shrimp in a single layer, spray tops with olive oil. Bake for 5 minutes, turn shrimp over and bake another 5 minutes or until done.

The post Crispy Fried Shrimp {six ways} appeared first on Lemony Thyme.

Once we perfected the Flatbread Crackers, the natural progression was to make Homemade Flatbread Pizza.  Talk about the perfect Friday night, everyone top their own, grab a beer and get happy food.

It’s inventory week at my office and considering I only got home from work 45 minutes ago, we topped our flatbread pizzas with simple ingredients straight from the fridge.  For the crust, we made the parmesan garlic & herb version and prebaked them for 4 minutes.  We then topped them with sliced tomato, salami, mozzarella cheese, spinach and a drizzle of olive oil.   Another 6-8 minutes in the oven until cheese was melted and bubbly.

While I love the Homemade Pizza Dough we make in our bread machine, sometimes you neither have the time nor energy to wait the 2+ hours for it to be ready.  These yummy Homemade Flatbread Pizzas were firmly in my grasp in about 20 minutes.  Can’t beat that!!

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Homemade Flatbread Pizza

Servings 4

Author Libby with Lemony Thyme

Ingredients

For Flatbread crust…

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• flavor add-ins choose from options below or your own
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• additional olive oil & sea salt for topping

Flavor variation add-ins…

• Parmesan & Garlic Herb ~ 1/4 cup parmesan cheese 1 Tbl. fresh finely chopped herbs, 1 tsp. garlic powder
• Rosemary & Freshly Cracked Black Pepper ~ 1 Tbl. fresh finely chopped rosemary 1 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
• Lemony Thyme ~ 1 Tbl. fresh finely chopped lemon thyme 1 Tbl. lemon zest
• Seed Blend ~ 1/4 cup assorted seeds such as poppy, sesame, sunflower, flax, chia

For pizza toppings…

• Favorite sauce cheese, toppings

Instructions

• Place pizza stone or heavy baking sheet on center rack of oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and choice of flavor add-ins. Make a well in the center and add water and oil. Stir until just combined then turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead 4-5 times.
• Cut into 2 equal pieces. Place each on parchment paper and roll until about 3/8-inch thick. Brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt (optional). Slide onto un-rimmed baking sheet, then slide parchment/dough onto pizza stone. Bake for 3-4 minutes. Slide parchment paper back onto un-rimmed baking sheet and add favorite toppings. Return to oven and bake an additional 6-8 minutes until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Cool slightly before serving.

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The Baking Gods gave us Flatbread Crackers.

And they were good.

And a whole lot easier than rolling, cutting and baking individual crackers.  So much so, I have made four different flavors in two days just so I could be sure it was as easy as I’m saying it is.  That was a bad sentence but I hope you get the point.

Some of you may recall that I attempted to make crackers a couple of weeks ago.  I had talked about it ahead of time and convinced myself this would become a hit in my made-from-scratch recipe collection.  I even named them Tropical Pepper & Sea Salt Crackers after my favorite Trader Joes grinder.  They looked like crackers and were interesting while fresh from the oven.  However by the time they made it to work the next day for my taste testers to sample….let’s just say they were a bit crisp.  At that moment I put cracker making on the back burner.

That was until I saw this recipe for Seeded Flatbread Crackers from Eat Your Heart Out.  Seriously simple baking here.  My comments back to Stephie have been something to the effect of “I could just kiss you” and “I owe you a great big hug around the neck for this recipe.”  Her description of making sheets of flatbread vs. individually cut out crackers gave me the encouragement to get back in there and own the cracker world.   I’m hoping to inspire you to do the same.  It’s a big world, we can own it together.

We loved the Seeded Flatbread Cracker version from Eat Your Heart Out (1/4 cup assorted seeds like poppy, flax, sunflower, sesame, chia).

That beautiful recipe inspired me to come up with a few variations.  I’m willing to bet when you make these your favorite flavor combinations will come to the tip of your taste buds as well.

Rosemary & Cracked Black Pepper (1 Tbl. chopped fresh rosemary & 1 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper)

Parmesan & Garlic Herb (1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, 1 Tbl. chopped fresh herbs & 1 tsp. garlic powder)

Lemony Thyme (1 Tbl. lemon zest & 1 Tbl. chopped lemony thyme)

So. What do you think? Feel free to increase quantities on the add ins for a more intense flavor.  Bake & Break Crackers are where it’s at.  Are we going to conquer the cracker world together?  I’d love for you to share your favorite Flatbread Cracker flavor combinations in them comments section below.  xo Libby

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Flatbread Crackers {in a Variety of Flavors}

Ingredients

For Flatbread…

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• flavor add-ins choose from options below or your own
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• additional olive oil & sea salt for topping

Flavor variation add-ins…

• Parmesan & Garlic Herb ~ 1/4 cup parmesan cheese 1 Tbl. fresh finely chopped herbs, 1 tsp. garlic powder
• Rosemary & Freshly Cracked Black Pepper ~ 1 Tbl. fresh finely chopped rosemary 1 tsp. freshly cracked black pepper
• Lemony Thyme ~ 1 Tbl. fresh finely chopped lemon thyme 1 Tbl. lemon zest
• Seed Blend ~ 1/4 cup assorted seeds such as poppy, sesame, sunflower, flax, chia

Instructions

• Place pizza stone or heavy baking sheet on center rack of oven. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and choice of flavor add-ins. Make a well in the center and add water and oil. Stir until just combined then turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead 4-5 times.
• Cut into 3 equal pieces. Place one piece on parchment paper and roll until very thin. Brush lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt (optional). Slide onto un-rimmed baking sheet, then slide parchment/dough onto pizza stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Slide parchment paper back onto un-rimmed baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely before breaking into pieces. Repeat with other two dough pieces.
• Store in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

Notes

Feel free to increase the quantities on the add-ins for a more intense flavor experience. The combinations listed are subtle.

Looking for a something savory or sweet to spread on your crackers?  Check out some of our favorites below.

Boursin Garlic & Herb Spread

Peach Jalapeno Skillet Jam

Deviled Crab Dip

Pimento Cheese Dip

Strawberry Jalapeno Skillet Jam

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