Goat Cheese Crostini with Ham & Pear

With the holiday season in full swing, I’m excited to share these tasty goat cheese crostini with ham, pear, and arugula.

This appetizer is easy to make, full of interesting flavors and textures, and perfect for your next holiday party! Plus, it pairs wonderfully with Cava wine. 😉

This post is sponsored by ALDI, and was originally published in 2017.

Goat Cheese Crostini Appetizer

I love making crostini for parties because they’re easy to eat without utensils and are fun to customize with endless topping combinations. This recipe, which features ingredients entirely from ALDI, covers all your texture and flavor bases for a delicious bite: crunchy, creamy, crispy, sweet, salty, tangy, and peppery.

The salty, smoky flavor of spiral sliced ham always reminds me of the holidays. And when paired with the tanginess of cream cheese and goat cheese, the sweetness of pears, and the spiciness of arugula, this recipe is a hit!

Have you guys been to an ALDI before? (If not, here’s the ALDI store locator to find one near you!) It’s a grocery store that believes that you shouldn’t have to spend a lot of money to enjoy high quality food.

I was first introduced to ALDI at Blog Brulee, the RD blogger workshop I’ve spoken at previously; they were the wine sponsor for the event one year and we were all so impressed with how delicious and affordable their wine was! I’ve since learned they also have a lot of great food, including affordable organic options.

Recipe Ingredients

To make this festive goat cheese crostini, you’ll need:

• bread (a baguette makes perfect bite-sized pieces!)
• cooked ham
• goat cheese
• pear
• cream cheese
• arugula
• lemon
• dijon mustard

If you’re not a fan of ham, prosciutto would also be tasty here – or you can leave out the meat altogether!

For more holiday-inspired deliciousness, check out this list of easy Christmas snacks and appetizers!

How to Make Crostini

To throw this recipe together, just bake the baguette rounds on a sheet pan until crispy (you can do this in advance), spread with the cream cheese/goat cheese mixture, and top with ham, pear, and arugula. That’s it!

Wine Pairing for Goat Cheese Crostini

I picked up a bottle of ALDI’s Bonaval Cava Brut to serve with these crostini, and the pairing is perfect. The bold, balanced flavors of the crostini are great with the light and refreshing Cava – I’d definitely recommend picking up a bottle!

This sparkling wine was awarded 89 points by the Beverage Testing Institute, and received a Silver medal as a Best Buy and Highly Recommended wine. It pairs especially well with anything involving creamy cheese.

I whipped out one of my favorite holiday season tricks for this Cava: using frozen cranberries to keep the drinks cold! Rather than watering down a delicious glass of bubbly with ice, toss in some frozen cranberries instead. It looks quite festive, too, which is a nice bonus – give it a shot!

You’ll find the full goat cheese crostini recipe at the bottom of this post. Enjoy!

Looking for more tasty appetizer recipes? Check these out:

• Savory Pumpkin Dip
• Spicy Queso Dip with Hummus
• Healthy Deviled Eggs
• Mediterranean Sweet Potato Bites with Hummus
• Avocado White Bean Hummus with Lemon

What’s on the menu for your next holiday gathering?

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Ham & Pear Crostini with Goat Cheese

January 3, 2019 by Anne

 The salty, smoky flavor of spiral sliced ham always reminds me of the holidays, and when paired with the tanginess of cream cheese and goat cheese, the sweetness of pears, and the spiciness of arugula, this recipe is a hit!

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Yield

15 crostini

Print Recipe

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Ingredients:

• 1/2 whole wheat baguette, cut into 1/2-inch thick slices (15 slices total)
• 2 oz Happy Farms Cream Cheese, at room temperature
• 2 oz Happy Farms Goat Cheese, at room temperature
• 1 tsp Burman's Dijon Mustard
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• about 6 oz Appleton Farms Boneless Spiral Sliced Ham, cut into pieces
• 2 small pears, thinly sliced
• 2 cups SimplyNature Organic Arugula
• SimplyNature Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Stonemill Salt and Pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Place baguette slices on a baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until crisp and golden, about 15 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, mix cream cheese, goat cheese, Dijon mustard, lemon zest, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl until smooth. 

4. Spread cream cheese mixture evenly onto toasted baguette slices.

5. Top each baguette slice with a piece of ham, then 2 thin slices of pear, then a few leaves of arugula. Sprinkle with pepper.

6. Enjoy alongside Bonaval Cava Brut!

Thank you to ALDI for sponsoring this post! Check ALDI out on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram for more affordable holiday recipe inspiration!

Did you make this recipe?

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