Mozzarella Hearts with Feta Center

I used the half gallon of 1% milk from Friday and made some Mozzarella on Sunday. I used 3/4 tsp of citric acid in 1/2 cup of water and 1/8 tsp of dbl strength vegetable rennet in 1/4 cup of water. The curds set up in 10 minutes and held together very well during the heating and stirring process. I heated and stretched it three times and left it in a rope when I finished. I cut it into 1/2 oz pieces and put them in ice water for twenty minutes.

Now for the fun part. I recently purchased a mini heart muffin pan, the individual cups are 1 1/2inches. Using a large frying pan with hot water in it I heated the muffin tin. Then I heated some of the mozzarella in the microwave and rolled it out into a sheet. This went over the muffin tin and the heat helped the mozzarella stay stretchy as I filled the hearts with goat milk Feta I made last week. I made another thin sheet of mozzarella and placed it over the tin and used a rolling pin to seal the hearts. After 20 minutes in the fridge, I turned them out onto the cutting board and trimmed them to shape. (I'm not so good with that as you can see in the pic.) I picked some small sweet basil leaves and put them on top. The mozz actually looks like white chocolate when you first look at it. The taste is amazing especially if you take a little basil with it. I'm thinking that it would be nice to put some chopped basil in the heart before sealing them.

This was actually a "proof of concept" project: Trying to come up with the technique to fill mozzarella with a semi soft filling. Now I'm thinking: Key lime mascarpone, Ricotta with herbs, Yogurt Cheese with honey, strawberry preserves, grape tomato with Italian dressing, even mini burrata. Oh, the possibilities.