Roasted Cherry Toasts with Honey Nut Cream Cheese

I have this problem that involves going to the grocery store pretty much every day. Sometimes multiple times. I would like to blame this tendency on my job because it involves cooking and lots of groceries, but really I think it's some kind of obsessive tendency I inherited from my mom who also grocery shops daily. We're cool.

It's gotten so bad lately that the cashiers at the grocery store routinely strike up conversations with me, like we are all very great friends. They ask about the dogs when I buy dog food. They ask if I'm working a lot when I buy 3 pounds of coffee at a time. But the best thing about being totally tight with my local market people happens to be the fact that they tip me off to awesome sales.

And then… the worst thing about being totally tight with my local market people happens to be the fact that they tip me off to totally awesome sales.

Because I end up with things like six pounds of fresh cherries.

I'm not sure if you know this or not, but… six pounds is like a really huge lot of cherries.

So far I have managed to wiggle fresh cherries into my favorite cherry bomb chicken, and of course a few little tarts, but seriously? I needed cherries for breakfast because it's my favorite. Obviously.

These roasted cherry toasts with honey nut cream cheese are a morning-time coffee-fueled brain child. They come together super fast and are so easy! I actually ate them for breakfast 3 days straight. Roasted cherries are loaded with sweet-tart crazy bursts of flavor. You have the crunch from the toasty baguette and the smooth texture of the honey nut cream cheese… I could basically eat this every day for 3 weeks straight and not get sick of it.

Plus! You don't need six pounds of cherries to make it happen. Just a handful.

These sweet little toasts might just be one of the best things I ever made! Which isn't really fair because they are so simple you can barely qualify them as a recipe. Check it out! You'll see!

We adore fresh cherries just as much as Heather! Try using them in Jocelyn's cherry Greek yogurt parfaits or Rachael's fresh cherry cola floats too.

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Roasted Cherry Toasts with Honey Nut Cream Cheese Recipe

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Ingredients

• 1 small baguette, split horizontally (like a sandwich) and then sliced into 2-3" pieces
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 15-20 fresh cherries
• 4 ounces neufchatel low fat cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon roasted almonds, finely chopped (unsalted is preferred)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or foil.
2. Place the baguette slices split side up on one side of the baking sheet.
3. Toss the fresh cherries with the olive oil and scatter them across the opposite side of the baking sheet. It's fine if they are touching.
4. Bake for 10 minutes; turn the baguette slices split side down after 5 minutes.
5. While the cherries roast and the baguette toasts, beat the cream cheese, honey, and chopped almonds until they are smooth and well-combined.
6. To construct, spread cream cheese on the split side of the toasted baguette. Top with a few roasted cherries.

Notes

• Fresh Cherries have pits! You can use a cherry pitter to pit the fresh cherries before roasting. You can also roast them with the pits inside and then pop the pits out with your fingers after roasting. (Be warned that while I prefer this method, roasted cherries are HOT!! and the hot pink color will get on your fingers.)

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