Name: Prosciutto & Brie Crostini with Dried Apricots
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 15 min
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 baguette, sliced on the bias into 1/4-inch thick slices; 2 tablespoons olive oil; 1-2 cloves garlic, root ends trimmed off; 1 (3 ounce) package prosciutto; 1 (4 ounce) wheel brie cheese (I used a goat milk variety), at room temperature, sliced about 1/4-inch thick; 10-12 dried apricots, sliced into thirds; 1/4 cup sliced almonds; 1/3 cup baby arugula; 2-4 tablespoons good quality extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling

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France meets Italy in this simple prosciutto & brie crostini recipe that packs a flavorful, sweet-and-salty punch. Plus tips on building your own stellar crostini!

Do you love crostini recipes as much as I do?

Then you are in for a treat today, because this crostini recipe only calls for a handful of ingredients, and is easy enough to make for last-minute entertaining.

Or to eat as a meal on its own. This is a judgment-free zone.

What exactly is crostini, anyway?

Crostini is basically a fancy way of saying "thinly sliced, toasted bread with various toppings, served as an appetizer". The most well-known way to use toasted bread like this, at least around these parts, is for bruschetta.

There's a bit more elaboration on the difference between crostini and bruschetta in this post by Food Network.

My father-in-law and I make a killer, super garlicky bruschetta with garden-fresh tomatoes every summer, but we always gobble them up before I can get around to photographing them to write about.

So while I wait for tomato season to get into full swing, I'm sharing some fun alternative party bite recipes!

You may remember seeing these Prosciutto & Brie Crostini with Dried Apricots from the post I did for my Honeyed Chorizo & Fig Crostini a while back.

They were just one of the 3 tapas-style bites I served that day, and they all turned out fantastic!

How to Properly Toast Crostini

The key to a good crostini is to have a sturdy base that can withstand the weight of the toppings. You want to get a nice, evenly toasted slice of baguette to act as the vessel to deliver whatever toppings you've chosen to your mouth, pronto!

Make sure you slice your baguette consistently so that all the pieces cook at the same rate. I like to drizzle lightly with olive oil, then rub the slices and flip them around in it to coat the bread evenly without oversaturating them. If they absorb too much oil, they won't get nice and crispy.

You can grill or broil the bread to get it nice and toasty. I talk about grilling bread a bit in this post for Goat Cheese Toast with Honeyed Citrus Fruit. My go-to method for crostini is broiling.

Broil until the first side is golden, about 3-5 minutes, then flip the bread over and continue to broil for another minute or 2. Be sure to watch your bread so it doesn't burn! The second side always cooks faster than the first, in my experience.

Adding Cheese to Crostini

Anyone who has eaten a meal with me knows that I am all.about.that.cheese. I lived in Wisconsin for 10 years, and I definitely brought my love of cheese with me when I moved to New York.

There are many different varieties of cheese that you can work with, and each type has its own unique characteristics. A lot of people default to smearing goat cheese onto their crostini, which is delicious, but don't be afraid to experiment with more!

Many cheeses benefit from being brought to room temperature before being served. This really lets the flavors of the cheese shine through. The next time you're planning to eat a soft cheese like brie, taste a wedge of it straight out of the refrigerator, then come back to it in 15 minutes or so. It's incredible what a difference it can make!

For this crostini recipe, I chose a goat milk brie from Montchevre that was fabulous!

Making Crostini Exciting

The sky is the limit when it comes to the toppings that you put on your crostini.

I like to take color and texture into consideration when building my crostini. The bread will be crunchy enough, so you don't need to go overboard adding more crunch, but I enjoyed the slight amount that the sliced almonds added here.

Sweet and salty is a combination that always works, in my opinion. Meats and cheeses are fun to mix and match, and fresh greens or herbs add a nice bit of color at the end.

Fresh or dried fruit is a great way to add a bit of sweetness, as is a drizzle of honey. If you're going for a more savory crostini, rubbing a garlic clove on the still-warm bread imparts a ton of flavor onto your toast, like we're doing in this recipe.

A drizzle of good quality extra-virgin olive oil is a great way to finish your platter.

This particular crostini is a bit like combining several elements of a charcuterie board onto one (or two) bites. My family absolutely loves prosciutto, and the saltiness goes beautifully with fruit.

If you've ever had prosciutto-wrapped melon, you know how addictive it can be. And I have a fantastic salad that uses those same flavors, too!

Looking for more bite-sized favorites? Check out these 5-star recipes:

Recipe for Prosciutto & Brie Crostini with Dried Apricots

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