Make Your Baked Goat Cheese Even Cozier With A Festive Fall Twist

When autumn arrives, it's time to start planning out fall feasts featuring all of the favorite foods you love to make during the season. This time of year conjures images of leaves changing colors, warm sweaters and blankets by the fireplace, and a whole lot of decadent dishes. Baked cheeses, such as brie and goat cheese, are enjoyable just about anytime of the year, but in the fall, adding a particularly ubiquitous ingredient –- pumpkin -– can bring your baked food to an entirely new level of cozy indulgence. Elevate your goat cheese to the peak of fall perfection with the addition of pumpkin in any of its most delectable forms.

As evidenced by the newer yearly traditions of "pumpkin everything," there's little that this delightful gourd cannot do. Complementing dishes both sweet and savory with a luxuriously rich texture, there's no doubt that pumpkin and goat cheese go wonderfully together. Being a soft and spreadable cheese with a tangy and tart taste, goat cheese mixes well with pumpkin, which in pureed form, is a silky smooth and equally spreadable substance with a mild squash flavor that can adapt to a variety of different seasonings, spices, and other ingredient additions.

Of all the creamy goat cheese recipes, none are quite as satisfying as simply baking it. There are many different options for adding pumpkin to your baked goat cheese, which range from a super simple light touch to a much more intense pumpkin flavor depending on your preferences. For starters, you can roast pumpkin seeds and use them to top your baked goat cheese for an extra bit of crunch. You can also make your own gluten-free pumpkin seed crackers which make the perfect dipping vessels for a warm baked goat cheese. To amplify the pumpkin addition in your dip, try using either fresh pumpkin or a can of pumpkin puree to let the fall flavors shine through.

When mixing pumpkin puree into your goat cheese for baking, it's important to be mindful of ratios. A heavier addition of pumpkin will create more sweetness in the dish versus the typically tart goat cheese. Based on your personal taste, you can go slowly when preparing your cheese for baking and add the pumpkin little by little as you go. Savory herbs such as sage, rosemary, and thyme would also make an excellent addition. If your tastes tend towards the sweeter side, drizzle a topping of honey with cinnamon, brown sugar, and cloves to create a more pumpkin pie-inspired baked goat cheese dip. However you do it, make sure you've set aside time to indulge in all the warm and cozy flavors.