Crostini are one of my very favorite appetizers to put together. Italian for “little toasts”, crostini is just a fancy name for crusty bread slices that have been brushed with oil and baked until golden brown. These crunchy, hand-held appetizers can be topped with a myriad of different, delicious things, without much effort. My apricot, burrata and proscuitto combo is pretty stellar, I have to say. You get a tangy sweetness from the apricot jam, the buttery creaminess from the burrata, and the salty bite from the proscuitto, resulting in the perfect bite!
If you’ve never had burrata, you MUST find this ASAP! Burrata means “buttered” in Italian. At first glance, burrata resembles a ball of mozzarella. But once you cut the burrata open, it has an interior that spills out, revealing soft, stringy curd and fresh cream. If you’re a lover of mozzarella, ricotta, or really anything that’s straight-up creamy, this cheese is so what you want. Imagine spreadable mozzarella cheese.
Let’s make crostini!
Extra-virgin olive oil
16 teaspoons apricot jam
16 tablespoons burrata cheese (about 8 ounces)
8 slices of proscuitto ham, sliced in half
Freshly Ground black pepper
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
Cut the crusty bread into angled slices, and spray them with extra virgin olive oil on both sides. Place the slices on a baking sheet. Bake until golden, 10-15 minutes. Turn the crostini over once during baking.
Once the crostini are cooled, spread 1 heaping teaspoon of apricot jam onto each one.
Add a tablespoon (roughly) of burrata on top of the apricot jam.
Top each crostino with 1/2 a slice of proscuitto.
To finish them off, crack some black pepper over the top, and serve!
