Rachel Khoo: Goat’s cheese truffles

You can never have too many speedy entertaining ideas up your sleeve at this time of year and these are as simple as they come: a quirky twist on a traditional truffle — savoury goat’s cheese balls rolled in seeds and spices. Pass them around with drinks, or serve as part of a cheeseboard. The hazelnut dukkah is an optional way to jazz them up, but you could simply toss them in chopped nuts, spices or seeds instead. Dukkah is handy to have on standby; it stores well and is delicious sprinkled on hummus or served with a saucer of olive oil and hot flatbreads.

Goat’s cheese truffles

Makes 12

200g fresh soft goat’s cheese

For the hazelnut dukkah:

60g hazelnuts

40g sesame seeds

2 tsp cumin seeds

2 tsp coriander seeds

Sea salt and black pepper

For the spice and seed crusts:

1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika

1 tbsp poppy seeds

1 tbsp sumac

Preheat the oven to 180C. Place the hazelnuts and sesame seeds on a baking tray and toast in the oven until golden. Add the cumin and coriander seeds for two minutes at the end. Blitz roughly in a food processor and season to taste.

In the meantime, divide the goat’s cheese into nine even pieces. Roll each in the palm of your hand and set aside.

Put a few tbsp of the dukkah in a bowl (store the rest in an airtight container or jar). Put the remaining spices and seeds in separate bowls and roll the cheese balls in one of them to coat. Place the truffles in small cupcake cases or directly on a board. Serve as a canapé or with cheese crackers as part of a cheeseboard