I have a small obsession with bruschetta. I don’t know if it’s the toasty bread or the pile of toppings, but I’m hopelessly obsessed with this honey pear bruschetta.
What is bruschetta?
Bruschetta is Italian and consists of a toasted piece of bread with toppings. Crostini is also Italian meaning “little toasts.” These are smaller rounds, also with toppings. Bruschetta and crostini are essentially the same thing but bruschetta is usually a bit larger. Traditionally bruschetta is garlic, tomato, and basil on toasted bread. Modern day bruschetta’s have a ton of variety in toppings and spreads. They can be savory, sweet, or both!
This honey pear bruschetta has everything you could want: toasty bread, salty and creamy brie cheese, and spiced sweet honey pear chutney
All of that in one bite is almost unfair.
The other great thing about bruschetta is its SIMPLE. It’s all about layering 1-2 simple ingredients to create a mind blowing combination all in one bite. You don’t want too many things going on or you start to lose flavors in the craziness.
This honey pear bruschetta is a salty sweet combo that is sure to impress. Just be careful to not fill up on this stuff before dinner… Seriously. It will happen. Be careful.
How to make honey pear bruschetta:
There are 3 components to this bruschetta:
- Bread
- Cheese
- Chutney
Bread
For the bread, I usually choose a baguette. I like the crust and they toast beautifully. Slice it on a 45 degree angle for maximum surface area. Brush on BOTH sides with olive oil and toast under the broiler until crisp. Here is my BIGGEST tip of the day. DO NOT TAKE YOUR EYES OFF THE TOAST. They will burn the second you look away. You have no idea how many hours I have spent scraping burnt bits off toast with a butter knife (yes this does work if you burn them). Just save yourself some grief and watch them.
Cheese
The best cheese for this bruschetta is brie. It’s creamy and salty and compliments the pears perfectly. In my opinion, it is always worth spending a little more to get better cheese. Good cheese makes a HUGE difference. Please…spend the extra $2 and get something a little better. The brie needs to be room temperature to spread easily. Don’t forget to take it out of the fridge about 45 min before you plan on assembling the bruschetta.
Chutney
The honey pear chutney is really simple to make but does take about 40 min to let it simmer down completely. Luckily it doesn’t need very much attention during that time. The idea here is to cook the pears down until they are soft and give all the flavors time to develop. You can add chopped walnuts to the chutney for extra texture but that is totally up to you. For the chutney, add all your ingredients to a medium sized pot and simmer while stirring occasionally for about 40 min. The chutney needs to be thick enough to not drip off the bread. At the end stir in 1tbsp of butter and you are ready to serve!
Assembly
When it comes to assembling the bruschetta, you can pre-assemble or you can leave the ingredients out for people to build their own.
These ingredients can also be made ahead of time or even the day before! This is great for holidays so you can have an appetizer ready to go the day of.
There you have it! Honey pear bruschetta! I hope you guys enjoy this salty sweet appetizer.
Honey Pear Bruschetta
Ingredients
- 1 baguette
- 1 brie wheel
- 2 pears diced
- ⅓ cup water
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tbsp butter
- fresh thyme
Instructions
- Slice the baguette on a 45 degree angle and toast.
- In a medium sized pot add in the pears, water, honey, and brown sugar.
- Bring to a simmer over low heat and simmer for about 40 minutes. The pears should be soft and will have made a thick chutney. It needs to hold together enough to not fall off the bread!
- Add the balsamic and salt. More salt may be needed, taste before you add more.
- Stir 1 tbsp of butter into the chutney.
- To assemble the bruschetta: Spread about 2 tablespoons of brie on the toasted bread then top with the pear chutney.
- Garnish with fresh thyme.
- Enjoy!
