Raspberry and Balsamic Baked Goat Cheese

It’s been a crazy couple days around here.  After spending the last 10 days in vacation mode, the hubby and I are freshly back from our anniversary celebration and back to reality.  Back to reality means back to routine and routine means taking care of the many piles of laundry, dishes and responsibilities left behind.  Not to mention the weather around here is unseasonably fall like, making me want to bury myself in a fuzzy blanket and binge watch Game of Thrones. I’m not exactly feeling the whole “routine” thing just yet.

Yesterday I decided to compromise with myself –> treat myself with one of my favorite snacks and then check a few things off the “to-do”.  If you checked out my previous post, you already know my love of goat cheese. I am by far a savory over sweet kind of snack girl. It was as if I didn’t get enough goat cheese on vacation. You’d swear I forgot about the Wood-fired Bread Basket with herbed goat cheese from Wild Tomato or my Veggie Breakfast Burrito stuffed to the brim with goat cheese from Good Eggs. Oh wait, I didn’t forget, I’m just still dreaming about it.

Can you really ever have enough? Say it isn’t possible. I will never get enough of my tasty goat cheese. Ok I’m being a little dramatic.

One problem, the groceries were pretty slim pickings back home. Trust me, grocery shopping was one of those things on that “to-do” list I was talking about. I could have eaten that goat cheese straight from the tube but with this colder weather I really wanted my snack to be warm and savory.

I browsed my cupboard to look for combinations, the ingredients came one by one. Obviously I had the goat cheese (my fridge is always stocked).  I wanted to play with some flavors and found a mason jar of my Grandma’s homemade raspberry jam, one lonely lemon, and I grabbed my new bottle of balsamic from Fat Louie’s Olive Oil Company.

You guys, this recipe could not be any easier. I spread the softened goat cheese in a shallow crock and used a spoon to make a small well around the edge. Then I whipped together the jam, lemon juice, and balsamic to lay around the edges. I popped in the oven until the jam mixtures was bubbling and the cheese was starting to get golden brown. I pulled out of the oven and topped with some fresh herbs.

Lucky for me, I had a large baguette (turned crostini) in the freezer. I sliced that up and sprayed with a little olive oil and topped with some garlic powder before baking. Ooooh were those crunchy, golden crostini good. Is that my mouth watering again?!

My husband and I did a pretty good job of polishing this off before dinner. I mean it is an appetizer right? I did manage to set aside a few small snack dishes to work with me throughout the week. If you have better self control than myself, just cover the leftovers and place in the fridge, reheat in the microwave until warm.