Fig and Vegan Truffle Chive Cheese Appetizers with Coconut Bacon!
What do you do when your CSA box accidentally doubles your order of figs and your chive plants are taking over the world? Fig and raw, vegan cheese appetizers! These might look a little fussy but trust me, they are pretty darn simple. Especially if you make the Chive Truffle cheese and coconut bacon ahead of time.
Yes. I said “truffle”. Because I still love the flavor. And even though it because the joke of the food world for a while because EVERYTHING was truffle, it’s really a great flavor that adds a delicious umami (considered to be the 5th taste) quality to a dish. It fills out the flavor of this raw, vegan cheese and acts as a wonderful foil for the chives, figs and coconut bacon.
You will find recipes for coconut bacon all over the web. It is not a new thing but boy is it a delicious thing. I hadn’t really ventured into the coconut bacon realm yet but as soon as I made these fig appetizers, I knew that it would be the perfect thing to complete these little appetizers.
For this recipe, I started with the typical ingredients used to make coconut bacon, soy sauce (I used a combination of nama shoyu and coconut aminos), and liquid smoke. I went light on the liquid smoke and added smoked paprika and a pinch of garlic powder. A half hour soak in the marinade also helped fill out the flavor.
I pulled the coconut bacon out of the dehydrator and as I was walking past my hubby-to-be, I popped a few flakes in his mouth. You should have seen the look on his face. “What is that? It tastes like bacon!”. Score!
PLEASE NOTE: You will have more cheese and bacon than you can use for this recipe. But both the raw, vegan chive truffle cheese and the coconut bacon can be made ahead and frozen.
Fig and Vegan Truffle Chive Cheese Appetizers with Coconut Bacon
Chive Truffle Raw Vegan Cheese
- 2 cups cashews, soaked overnight, rinsed and drained
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon light miso
- 1 small clove garlic
- 1 teaspoon raw apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon Himalayan Salt
- 1-2 tablespoons truffle oil
- 5 tablespoons chopped chives
- Combine all ingredients except chives in a high-speed blender and blend until smooth.
- Remove to a bowl and stir chives in by hand.
Coconut Bacon
- 2 cups large, flaked dried coconut (unsweetened)
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 2 tablespoons nama shoyu
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 3 teaspoons liquid smoke
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- Whisk together all ingredients except for the coconut.
- Pour over the coconut, stir and let soak for at least 1/2 hour.
- Dehydrate at 115 overnight or until chewy-crisp.
Appetizers
- 8 fresh mission figs, halved
- chive truffle cheese (recipe above)
- coconut bacon (recipe above
- extra chives for garnish
- Scrape some of the fig “meat” out of the fig and set aside.
- Fill with a teaspoon of the cheese.
- Top with the removed fig “meat”, coconut bacon and a chive.
Jon wrote on August 17, 2015
I just got really hungry looking at these! Can’t wait to try them!
Alicia@ Eco Friendly Homemaking wrote on August 15, 2015
Oh my goodness these sound and look amazing!!
Drew S. wrote on August 15, 2015
This looks delish! Sweet and salty is my fave combination. BTW the term “Umami” actually comes from the use of glutamic acid or MSG. When the Japanese first invented MSG it was considered to be the ultimate food enhancer and took food to a whole new level of flavor which they called “umami” or delicious. I love reading about food history. Anyway your recipe looks amazing.
Kim B. wrote on August 13, 2015
How can you make the bacon without a dehydrator?? I don’t own one as yet.?
Thanks…
Susan wrote on August 14, 2015
You can bake at 350 for 10-15 minutes. You have to flip the chips over once during cooking. And keep a close eye on it. They can burn quickly. Cheers!
Susan wrote on August 13, 2015
Dawn…xoxoxo I feel the same way with your recipes!
Dawn wrote on August 13, 2015
Oh Stop! Could those look and sound anymore delicious. I am SO going to make those at my next dinner party. It makes me sad that our fig tree is having a “down” year 🙁 Thanks for the constant inspiration!