Fig and Goat Cheese Toasts Combine Creamy, Sweet, and Crunchy

Have you explored the culinary possibilities of the fantastic fig? A teardrop-shaped fruit with dusky skin, the fig is part of the mulberry family.  Long prized by chefs and home cooks for the complex flavors the fig imparts to dishes both sweet and savory, today we share a simple recipe for Fig and Goat Cheese Toasts.

Gather Your Tools:

Small Mixing bowl

Spreader

Bread knife

Baking Pan and Rack Set

Oil Sprayer Set

Gather Your Ingredients:

1 loaf high quality bread

Extra virgin olive oil for spraying

1 peeled garlic clove, if desired

1 cup creamy goat cheese

8 fresh figs or 1 cup fig preserves

4 sprigs fresh rosemary or thyme

Finishing salt

Get Ready to Bake:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Slice bread across width into ½” thick slices.
3. Spray each bread slice generously with olive oil and arrange on baking rack in baking pan.
4. Bake for 5-6 minutes until bread edges begin to brown.
5. Remove from oven. When toasts have cooled, rub with raw garlic clove, if desired.
6. Spread goat cheese onto each toast.
7. Top goat cheese with sliced fresh figs or fig preserves.
8. Garnish toasts with fresh herbs and finishing salt.
9. Serve and enjoy!

Baker’s Bits: If using fig preserves, look for a variety that contains plenty of fruit pieces. When fresh figs are ripe in the summer and fall, select those that are tender yet still firm - too soft and they will be difficult to slice.