Royal Anne Cherry and Goat Cheese Crostini

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Have you ever walked into a holiday party and found yourself underwhelmed with the frozen appetizers meant to tide you over before the “real” meal was ready? Thanks to Oregon Fruit, I’m sharing a decadent Royal Anne Cherry Goat Cheese Crostini Appetizer that is going to wow your friends and family this holiday season.

One of my favorite ways to celebrate Christmas is to cook and bake for my friends and family. My inner foodie always prefers to make everything from scratch, but you can imagine how time consuming that can be. Thankfully, I can use Oregon Fruit Products to make fresh dishes without having to scour my grocery store in search of fruits that are not in season. Oregon Fruit Products waits for the growers they work with to tell them when the fruit is ripe. The growers pick the fruit at their peak ripeness and deliver them to Oregon Fruit Products production facility. The fruit is washed and sorted to be filled. The result is perfectly ripe fruit from the orchards and fields.

For families who are trying to be mindful of both the environment and the chemicals we are exposed to, rest assured that Oregon Fruit Products only packs fruit that is free from GMOs in cans that are free from BPA and in light syrup that is free from high fructose corn syrup.

Delicious Royal Anne Cherry and Goat Cheese Crostini

This delightful Cheese Crostini Recipe features Royal Anne Cherries which are grown in the Pacific Northwest. They are perfectly sweet and are versatile enough in flavor to use in both sweet and savory dishes (if you can manage not to eat them right out of the can). My kids absolutely love cherries, but admittedly, I don’t buy them often because of their inherent pits which is just one more reason to love Oregon Fruit Products.

Oregon Fruit Products’ Royal Anne Cherry Goat Cheese Crostini recipe features Royal Anne Cherries, fresh thyme, Pink Himalayan Sea Salt and creamy goat cheese. This appetizer can be prepared in less than 30 minutes and is best enjoyed fresh, so build in a few extra moments during your time in the kitchen.

Royal Anne Cherry and Goat Cheese Crostini

Ingredients

1 small sourdough baguette sliced ¼ inch thick on the diagonal
1 can Oregon Fruit Royal Anne Cherries drained
3 Tbs olive oil divided
Coarse Pink Himalayan Sea Salt
Coarse freshly ground black pepper
2 sprigs fresh Thyme
4 oz goat cheese whipped in food processor

Instructions

Turn broiler on high.
Brush the bread on both sides with olive oil and toast in the broiler until golden
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Drain the cherries and toss with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper
Strip the leaves off the thyme sprigs and toss with cherries
Spread in a single layer on a cookie sheet and roast for 8-10 minutes
Spread each crostini with a thick layer of goat cheese and spoon 2 or 3 cherries on each
Sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper

This appetizer is seriously as good as it looks! The crunch of toasted sourdough combined with creamy goat cheese and the sweetness of Royal Anne Cherries is divine. Your holiday dinner guests will think you spent hours on this easy dish. What I love about this recipe is that anyone can prepare it, even if your skills in the kitchen are simply average.

Roasted Royal Anne Cherries

Grilled Sourdough Bread

Since I’ve made these Cherry and Goat Cheese Crostinis a few times since I was first introduced to the recipe, I have a few tips I thought I’d share with you.

Don’t over cook the bread. Even fresh sourdough can end up being very hard once placed in the broiler for too long. I prefer to lightly brown the bread so that it has just the right amount of crunch.
Be sure to drain the cherries well so the bread does not end up soggy.
Spread a hearty layer of goat cheese on each crostini.

For additional recipe inspiration from Oregon Fruit Products visit their website or find them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

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Caryn Bailey

Caryn is a NICU nurse by day, blogger by night and mom 24/7. She savors the warm Southern California sun and loves to travel, shopping, baking, reading and frequenting her local tea room. Caryn created the column Lavishly Green for Peekaboo Picks Magazine to share her best tips for going green in style, she is the Former editor for Family Review Network, former OC Family Magazine online contributor, former Orange County Moms Blog contributor, former Evenflo Savvy Parent contributor, former member of the Totsy Advisory Board and former freelance writer for CBS Los Angeles.