I was catering an event on day for a friend. They requested I make a batch of single small bite foods that could be incorporated with her art on tables into her art event. They wanted a variety but were not specific about what I made.

This is when having a pantry can save your ass. I don’t exactly recall what happened but one of the items I was making got messed up. It was frustrating for sure but I have needed to roll with the punches enough times to know I could pivot. I happened to have all of these ingredients on hand. I have paired pecans and blue cheese together many times before. But they needed to be easy to pick up. I smashed a crumbly roquefort between two candied pecans. And once again simple and easy won over the crowd. A good reminder that simple can be successful.

Because this was something I had to throw together at the last minute I used a quick candy method for pecans which require you to boil pecans in a simple syrup, toss in granulated sugar and toast/dry out in the oven.

Blue Cheese Candied Pecan

Salty and sweet at its finest, these are a great addition to a charcuterie board or a dessert cheese board.

Ingredients:

• 2 cup sugar split in half
• 1 cup water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 lb pecans
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t salt
• 8 oz roquefort

Instructions:

• Take 1 cup of sugar, water, cinnamon stick and place in a pot. Bring up to a boil.
• Add pecans to the pot and let cook for about 5-8 minutes.
• Mix the the other cup of sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a bowl
• Strain pecans from syrup and place in the granulated sugar to toss. (save syrup to use in other applications)
• Sprinkle the pecans on a parchment lined sheet pan and bake in an oven at 325* until they are toasted and dried.
• Once pecans are cooled, take a small pinch of roquefort and sandwich it between the pecans.

*Note: the moisture of the roquefort will break down the pecans and make the sugar weep. Don’t assemble until ready to serve.