Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion, and Pine Nut Toasts

Ima have to make this one short today, friends. Today has been busy and crazy, and little Mr. Ford has been a high maintenance little nugget. Fussy, fussy, fussy any time I try and rock him to sleep. After asking a bunch of people for advice, it turns out that the magic trick is to just stand up, walk him around, and sway/bounce him. Apparently he just hates sitting and being rocked to sleep with a burning, fiery passion. Who knew? Ya learn something new every day.

So because of said crazy day, I only have like 45 minutes to write this post before heading off to life group, so I’m not going to be able to rant and ramble per my usual routine. BUT – do not let the shortness of this post deter you from the DELICIOUS toasts that you see before you.

I’m telling you people, I’m not sure there is a better combination of flavor than garlicky toast, creamy goat cheese, sweet/savory caramelized onions, and toasty pine nuts. It’s a combo made in heaven, and your taste buds will be your extra best frand when you make this for them.

These toasts are simple, but we take good care of each individual little layer:

The toast. Baked in the oven until the bread has reached perfect, golden, toasty perfection and then rubbed with a clove of garlic to add a massive punch of flavor. We could stop there and I’d be happy, if we are being totally honest with each other.
The creamy goat cheese. We get the spreadable kind so it just smooths right over that bread like soft butta. We don’t need to do anything else here, because goat cheese = #bae. Right?
The caramelized onions. Oh, yes. Praise the Lawd for caramelized onions. Low and slow for 15-20 minutes, stirring often, and you have rich, savory, sweet, perfect onions that taste like they took a million ingredients to make, not ONE. If you don’t eat caramelized onions often, you are doing life wrong. You just are.
The pine nuts. Rather than just throwing pine nuts as is on top of these toasts, we cook them in a pan for a little bit to get them nice and toasty. A regular “raw” pine nut versus a toasted pine nut? No comparison. The toasty, nutty, deep flavor you get from tossing them around in a pan for a few minutes is unmatched!

Top these babies off with some salt and black pepper? Let’s be friends and come over to each others houses and make these toasts and drink wine every day – YAS.

Toasts have really been one of the trendy foods lately. They are the bees knees of Pinterest, it seems. Specifically avocado toast. Ohhhh my ‘lanta, this Roasted Garlic Avocado Toast will make your dreams come true, speaking of avocado toast. It is my love language.

It is easy for me to see why toasts have become such a popular food item. The toasty, nutty bread is just the perfect little avenue to shove all kinds of delicious and creative flavor combinations into your mouth. The possibilities are endless. And – bonus – they almost always have some creamy, spreadable element at their base…i.e. mashed avocado or some sort of spreadable cheese.

Liiiike goat cheese for example .

I have already posted several different toast recipes on the blog, and there are probs several more in my future. Easy, tons of variety, fun to make, aanndd most importantly fun to eat. Definitely fun to eat.

If you’re looking for something to bring to your next get together, this is your winning dish. I like to keep these ingredients around in my fridge (onions that I’ve caramelized in advance and pine nuts that I’ve already toasted) so I can whip one of these together for a snack or whip a few together for lunch. SO GOOD.

Each toast is 4 smart points!

Goat Cheese, Caramelized Onion, and Pine Nut Toasts

These goat cheese toasts have the perfect flavor combination and would be the perfect little dish to bring to any get together!

Author: Annie Chesson
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 mins
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 large onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons pine nuts
4 oz spreadable goat cheese
Multigrain bread – we will use 7 slices (from the bakery section of your grocery store – I used La Brea)
Fat free cooking spray

Instructions

Add your olive oil to a pot over medium heat. When hot, add your onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions have caramelized and turned a deep brown color. It should take 15-20 minutes
Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Spread 7 slices of bread out on a baking sheet and spray both sides with the cooking spray
Bake for 10 minutes, flip, and bake for another 5 minutes
Remove from the oven and rub a garlic clove across the surface of each slice
In a small pan, toast your pine nuts over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they taste and smell nutty
To assemble, spread 1 tablespoon of goat cheese onto each piece of toast. Top with 2 tablespoons of caramelized onions and a heaping 1/2 teaspoon of toasted pine nuts. Top with salt and black pepper!