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Crunchy, Creamy, Goat Cheese-Walnut Toasts are rich and satisfying. The complexity of flavors and textures sets them apart from most other breakfast fare. They remind me of a good schmear on a toasted bagel, but they’re far more expensive sophisticated.

What you’ll need to make 4 large slices (one slice per serving):

2 oz. walnuts
¾ oz. pecans
½ oz. brown sugar (about 1 Tbs) 
2½ oz. maple syrup (about 4 Tbs)
A few pinches of anise seed
Salt
4 slices of really good bread
Butter
4¼ oz. fresh goat cheese
1 oz. heavy cream (about 2 Tbs)

How to do it:

1. Get your nuts nice and toasty . This can be done in the oven, or on the stovetop.
2. In a saucepan over a moderately high flame, heat the sugar, syrup, anise, and a few pinches of salt. Once it comes to a boil, stir to dissolve the sugar. Then add the nuts and continue cooking for 3 minutes, over lowest flame, to keep the bubbles on the somewhat gentle side.
3. Pour the mixture onto a plate and spread the nuts into a single layer. Use a spatula to get every last bit of the ooey, gooey goodness onto the plate. Let the mixture cool to room temperature.
4. Go bold and get the bread deeply toasted. Lightly butter the slices.
5. Use the paddle attachment on your stand mixer to beat the goat cheese and the cream until it becomes light and airy – about three minutes on medium/medium-high speed. (This is very much the same as creaming butter and sugar for cake, producing a similar texture.) Spread the mixture on the buttered toasts.
6. Take a fork to your nuts. Break them up. Chop them if you wish, you masochist. Sprinkle nuts onto the cheesy toasts, and add a last pinch of salt.

Notes:

• If one of your many flaws is that you don’t like nuts, you can substitute diced, dried apricots (about 8 of them) for the walnuts and dried cranberries (about 3 Tbs) for the pecans. Don’t boil them, though. Mix them with the syrup immediately after removing it from heat.

• Three minutes will cook the syrup into approximately the soft-ball stage. The mixture will cool into a crumbly, sugary candy. If you’d rather have a syrupy mixture – which borders on obscene, the way it full-on seduces the texture of the cheese into an early morning bacchanal – boil the mixture for about 30 seconds, or no more than a minute. If, when cool, it becomes too thick (no thank you), or too hard (heaven forbid), add a generous splash of water and microwave until the mixture boils. Allow it to boil for a few seconds. Stir, check consistency. Continue to nuke and stir as necessary until you’re satisfied. If you administer this punishment effectively, the mixture will remain obediently syrupy at room temperature.
• I used a raisin-walnut bread that I found at Mariano’s. It’s fantastic. They sell it by the pound, not by the loaf, so you can buy just four slices of it if you want.
• To toast nuts, heat a cast iron skillet for 2 minutes over medium-high heat. Add just enough oil to create a thin film across the bottom of the skillet. Toast the nuts, stirring constantly, until they darken and become fragrant, about 10-12 minutes. Lower the heat if the skillet begins to smoke. Take it outside and tell it that it can smoke only if it stays 15 feet from the entrance to your building. I don’t care how cold it is outside; smoking is bad for you.

Crunchy, Creamy, Goat Cheese-Walnut Toasts

Source: Dorian Cuisine. Dorian’s food is so delicious, I’ve developed a bit of a man crush on him. I translated his recipe (because he writes in French and I cook in English), elaborated on the instructions, added more double-entrendres than even a Frenchman would dare, and dreamed up the “dried fruit” and “syrupy” options. Credit for images on this page: Doughnut: Do-Rite, Pizza: Favim. All Others: Make It Like a Man! Hover over images and/or green text for pop-up info. Click for joy.

This content was not solicited, nor written in exchange for anything. Although Mariano’s advertises on my site from time to time via a third party, and I wish my friends would surprise me with a flash mob birthday party in the bulk spice section of the Ravenswood store, right next to the wine bar with where the way-too-accomplished-to-be-gigging-in-a-grocery-store pianist plays, which is right across from the produce section where that super-cute – I mean, like, seriously Hollywood looks – produce worker always distracts me and I wind up buying way too many cucumbers, they did not sponsor this post … although the daringly sexy pharmacist there did once say to me, “Hey man, nice beard.” That could be the subconscious reason that I keep going back there. But nonetheless, I’m pretty sure I mentioned Mariano’s in this post of my own volition.

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Other Breakfast Ideas:

Do-Rite Donuts!

Buttermilk Pancakes

Eggs Benedict

Leftover Pizza!

Bonus Pics: