Prosciutto wrapped dates (with goats cheese)

Prosciutto wrapped dates

This simple recipe for prosciutto wrapped dates is a delicious appetizer and consists simply of plump juicy dates stuffed with goats cheese, wrapped in prosciutto and heated in the oven.

It is perfect as an appetizer or as finger food. You can also serve them as a tapas, like my Spanish Prawns in garlic, if you like. You can serve them hot or cold.

As the Christmas holidays approach, dates become more readily available in the shops. This is a great nibble with drinks before the Xmas dinner. 

 

Goats Cheese Stuffed Dates

If you want to make this appetizer recipe, then try and find the largest dates you can find. Medjool dates are normally quite well-sized and suitable for use in this recipe. And the larger the date, the more cheese you can stuff into them!

For the cheese I have used soft French goats cheese (chèvre) which is easy to spread and use for filling the date.

But if you were feeling even more adventurous, you could try using a blue cheese to stuff the date, which would give a stronger taste, beautifully offset by the sweetness of the date and the salt of the prosciutto.

Prosciutto is the Italian word for ham. We use it here to describe uncooked dry-cured thin-sliced ham, which is a delicious salty-tasting product from various parts of Italy.

There are several types of Prosciutto which are a Protected Designation of Origin, such as Prosciutto di Parma, which I used in these photos.

But really for the purpose of this recipe, you could use any thin-cut dry-cured ham. So you may wish to use Jamón Serrano, for example, instead, which is a Spanish dry-cured ham.

You may even want to try goat cheese stuffed dates wrapped in bacon, as long as you can find bacon that is thin enough.

If you do try this using bacon you will definitely need to cook the bacon though, to make it safe. The prosciutto di Parma or Jamón Serrano on the other hand, can be eaten raw (as it normally is).

To bake or not to bake? 

Well, this depends on what you are after, something hot or cold. Eaten hot or cold these appetizers with prosciutto are delicious.

If you want a quick appetizer, leave them cold.

If you want something with a bit more excitement, that is, the warm gooey goat’s cheese surprise inside, then cook them.

Cooking these will give you some crispy prosciutto-wrapped dates with a delicious soft warm goats cheese inside. This combines perfectly with the sweet taste of the date and the salt of the prosciutto. Delicious!

So if you are looking for some prosciutto appetizers, then these stuffed dates wrapped in prosciutto are a great appetizer idea at any time of the year.

How to make prosciutto-wrapped goat’s cheese stuffed dates  

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