Tis the season for last minute party snacks and because I love you with all my might I wanted to share one of my favorites, Spicy Honey Goat Cheese Toasts, which if I lived in a house with others who cared for me….I mean cheese, I would make this every night for dinner then serve glasses of wine and call it good.
But because I can only make cheese-involved dishes when they will be served outside the home this is my go-to “hey, can you bring an appetizer to share?” “Of course!” I say delighted to have an excuse to buy eleven whole ounces of soft, creamy goat cheese.
You can go about this hors d’oeuvres two ways.
The first and simplest plan of attack is to place the goat cheese in a shallow dish, cover the goat cheese with spicy honey and sprinkle almonds over the top. Serve with a nice selection of crackers or toasted bread and let party-goers scoop up cheese and honey and nuts for themselves. The upside to plan number one is ease of transport. If you are say, traveling by train to the party it is much easier if you go with this method. Downside: the honey tends to dribble off the cheese overtime and pool beneath it. Not a major bummer but for guests to get the full effect you might want to mention that they should be sure to “not forget the honey!”
The second suggestion
Make little toasts by spreading cheese, honey, maybe a pear slice or two, and some almonds on toasted slices of bread. This way you are guaranteed everyone will get a bite of all the glorious bits and it looks prettier. It is also more work and harder to carry around.
One note about the honey
Two teaspoons of ground arbol chile may seem like a crazy amount when you are measuring it into the honey but it takes quite a bit of spice to fight through all that sweetness. Start with one teaspoon and see what you think, then add the other if you’d like more spice. I found that 1 teaspoon was not spicy at first then kind of crept up on you and two teaspoons was spicy right away but not burn your mouth hot.
Spicy Honey Goat Cheese Toasts Recipe
Soft goat cheese on crisp toasted bread drizzled with spicy arbol chile honey, a few ripe pear slices, and a sprinkling of toasted almond slices.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1-2 teaspoons ground arbol chile powder
- 11 ounces Chèvre goat cheese
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted or Trader Joe's Unsalted, Dry Toasted Sliced Almonds
- Ripe pear, sliced, optional
- Toasted bread or crackers, for serving
Instructions
- Warm honey in the microwave or on the stove top until just warm, but not boiling. Heating the honey helps the chile powder disperse easier and bloom.
- Whisk in chile powder and let cool to room temperature.
- Spread about a tablespoon or so of goat cheese on the toasted bread, add a few pear slices if using, drizzle with generous amounts of honey and sprinkle with a almonds.
- Alternatively, arrange goat cheese on a platter pour spiced honey over the top and sprinkle almonds over the goat cheese. Serve with toasted bread slices or crackers.
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