Honey and Goat Cheese Tart
Hosting Easter Brunch at your house this year? Why not serve each guest a honey and goat cheese tart with fresh blackberries and honeydew on top? You’re likely to start a new family tradition!
Spring is here and it’s time to brunch.
I don’t know why, but it seems brunch is reserved specifically for warm months. I wait all year to start inviting friends over for a late morning meal on the weekends. We always provide a couple breakfast options, a fresh salad of some sort, and then a few transitional dishes.
These transitional dishes could be anything… a lightly sweetened dessert, a dinner favorite I plan to serve in smaller portions, sandwiches, snack items, even soup. Really, the possibilities are endless.
That’s what makes brunch so great! It’s a delicate sleepy-eyed free for all, where anything goes as long as you have fruit and eggs somewhere on the table.
I like to serve a light pastry at brunches. Something that’s not quite a dessert (or at least not a very sweet dessert) but offers all the components of a treat… a rich ingredient, crunch-factor, a touch of sweetness, and something fresh.
This Goat Cheese Tart served with sliced honeydew and blackberries captures all of this and then some.
Buttery puff pastry is filled with a softened creamy goat cheese and honey mixture, then baked into crispy perfection.
Once out of the oven, each goat cheese tart is kissed with fresh zingy blackberries and thin slices of honeydew melon, before receiving a final drizzle of sweet dripping honey.
Something so light and ethereal deserves to be served at the most treasured meal of the week. And it deserves to be paired with a great cup of coffee.
At weekend brunches we also make sure to have our guests covered in the beverage area. Often this includes a fresh squeezed juice or two, Lt. Dan’s famous Bloody Marys, and a great selection of coffees.
Using Keurig® Special Edition Brewing System is the best way to serve coffee at brunch because everyone gets to choose the Starbucks Coffee they like.
For spring, I prefer the new Starbucks Blonde Roast Coffees; light roasts with distinct flavors.
Starbucks is sharing two new blonde roast coffees this year, Aria Blend and Bright Sky Blend. Starbucks® Aria Blend K-Cup® Packs offer a crisp citrus flavor and Starbucks® Bright Sky Blend K-Cup® Packs have a mild nutty quality.
They are both delicious, so it’s hard to chose, but I like Starbucks Bright Sky Blend with the goat cheese tart. The nutty essence balances the tang from the goat cheese and blackberries, bringing out their fresh spring appeal.
Goat Cheese Tart
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the softened goat cheese, 1 egg, honey and salt in a small bowl. Mash together with a fork until smooth.
- Lay the puff pastry sheets out on a floured work surface. Roll them slightly to remove the creases. Use a large knife or pizza cutter to cut each piece into 4 equal squares. Then use a fork to prick the center of each square, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edges.
- Spoon the goat cheese mixture evenly on the 8 squares. Use a spatula to smooth out the goat cheese, covering the fork pricks. Then gently fold the borders over the edges of the goat cheese, pinching the corners to make smaller squares. Use the fork to gently crimp the flat edges on the sides of all the tarts. Then move them to the prepared baking sheets.
- Whisk the remaining egg with 2 tablespoons of water. Brush the egg wash over the crimped crusts. Bake the tarts for 15-20 minutes until the edges are golden brown.
- Remove the tarts from the oven and cool for at least 10 minutes. Then top with small slices of honeydew and fresh blackberries. Drizzle with honey and serve warm or at room temperature.
Nutrition
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Starbucks Coffee Company. All opinions are my own.
I love serving lemon poppy seed muffins!!
My favorite is a breakfast pizza, fresh fruit and muffins.
I would prepare some finger sandwiches to go along with the coffee! MMM! =D
I like old fashioned glazed donuts with coffee.
I love donuts & apple fritters with coffee!!
Yummy!
What a delightful brunch addition! Perfect to go with the new Starbucks blonde roasts K-cups!
YAY BRUNCH! It’s cliche (but true) that us gays love our brunch. :-) So… favorite thing to serve? Well, I usually go for a coffeecake, but I personally love smoked salmon. I’ll take it however I can get it, but ideally with an everything bagel and slices of cucumber on top.
A warm cheese tart with fruit sounds comforting to ease into the day.
A great cup of coffee to accompany it would make it perfect!!!
My favorite brunch item to serve with coffee is a Sour Cream Coffeecake that my mother made when I was growing up. Yummy!!
Scones
We love doing a buffet for brunch-bacon, sausage,eggs,cheese grits, fruit,a variety of breads and always something sweet with our homemade jams and great . . .
has to be. . .Starbucks coffees.
I love quiche!
Silver dollar pancakes are the perfect companion to coffee!
eggs hollandaise – I can never make enough!
French toast and eggs!
I love danishes and fruit.
French toast, eggs, bacon, cottage potatoes and maybe eggs benedict.