Cream Cheese Wrapped Olives

This week I am continuing with my olive love fest with this wonderful appetizer that can be changed up in a variety of ways, made ahead, and is as deliciously appropriate at elegant occasions as it is at more casual ones.

Any variety of stuffed olive can be used. I used jalapeño-stuffed olives for this batch, but feel free to use pimento-stuffed, garlic-stuffed, or blue cheese-stuffed; they all work, and each one has its own subtle difference. The olive juice in this recipe can be cut in half, the other half replaced with gin for a dirty martini variety. The ingredients are simple and few, and most likely things that you already have on hand, making this perfect for last-minute plans.

Cream Cheese Wrapped Olives

 1 jar queen green stuffed olives

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

½ t. garlic salt

¼ t. freshly ground black pepper

1 T. freshly grated Parmesan

2 T. olive juice, or brine from the jar*

½ c. walnuts, crushed

 Place olives, hole side down, on a plate lined with a double layer of papers towels to drain.

 In a medium bowl place cream cheese, garlic salt, black pepper, Parmesan, and olive juice or brine. Beat with an electric mixer until smooth. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

 Once mixture has chilled, give the olives a bit of a pat down with a paper towel, and wrap in the cream cheese mixture (it will be a bit sticky) by pressing it around the olive until it is completely covered. Roll in crushed walnuts.

Skewer each with a toothpick, place into your favorite olive server, and return to the fridge, lightly covered, until ready to serve.

 Great for charcuterie!

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