The holidays may be over, but the winter gatherings are just beginning. During the colder months of the year, there is nothing better than getting with a few friends together, opening a good bottle of wine and having great conversations.

It’s always nice hosting a small gathering, but I don’t always want it to be something that takes a lot of prep work. My favourite way of easy entertaining is having a few different appetizers served throughout the evening. I love charcuterie boards and could eat one for breakfast, lunch and dinner…but I feel like people are forgetting about the good ol’ amuse bouche (French term for “mouth amuser”). These little bite-sized appetizers can be so easy to make, but you can also get pretty creative if you wanted to.

I wanted to share this easy appetizer that quickly became one of my favourites. For this one, you can use store-bought crostini, but it is so easy and inexpensive to make at home. I will include my go-to recipe at the bottom of this post.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 300g of goat cheese

  • 1/2 cup of whipping cream

  • 1 small pint of blueberries

  • zest of 1 lemon

  • juice of half a lemon

  • 1 tsp of salt

  • fresh Thyme, chopped

  • balsamic reduction

DIRECTIONS:

Combine goat cheese and heavy cream in a bowl and mix until smooth using a mixer. This should only take about two minutes using a hand mixer. Set aside (you can also prepare this step in advance).

In a small bowl, toss the blueberries with the lemon zest and lemon juice. I recommend letting it marinate in the mixture for at least 1 hour in the fridge. This step can also be done ahead of time (to be honest I usually prep it the day before).

When you are ready to serve, spread whipped goat cheese on the crostini, top with some of the marinated blueberries and then drizzle with a good amount of balsamic reduction.

how to make a balsamic reduction

For the balsamic reduction, you can make your own but I used a store-bought version. I find myself using balsamic drizzles quite often so I use this shortcut since it keeps longer than a homemade recipe (it’s also a shortcut that saves a lot of time).

If you want to make your reduction, bring 2 cups of a good quality balsamic vinegar to a boil, then lower the temperature to medium-low and keep simmering until it has reduced to at least half of the amount and thickened.


how to make easy homemade crostini

To make the easy crostini recipe, you need 1 baguette (can be fresh or grab one of that quick sale discounted ones), 3/4 cup of olive oil, salt and pepper, and an herb of your choice (Rosemary, Basil or Thyme are my favourite ones to use).

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and slice your baguette to at least 1/4 inch but no thicker than a 1/2 inch. Add half of your oil to the bottom of a large mixing bowl, season with a few cracks of fresh pepper and a pinch of salt. Add one teaspoon of your herb of choice, and half of your cut bread. Toss until both sides are well coated. Repeat with the second batch of your bread and spread out evenly on a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges start getting golden brown.

It’s that easy!

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