Sun-Dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Tarts

What a fabulous girl’s night out! Err, I mean in!  It is always so much fun to have my closest pals over to enjoy a ton of great food and fantastic drinks.  I will call this night three small dishes and a barrel of laughs! 

For the evenings festivities I made two appetizers and a sweet little pastry for dessert.  We also had an assortment of chips, hummus, olives, vegetable crudités, pita, chocolate covered strawberries, chocolate covered marshmallows and peanut butter cookies.  All were equally delicious and all were gobbled up between laughs and good friends.

                                       

This will be the first installment of the three titled “Small Bites”.  The first recipe comes from the July 2004 edition of the “Pillsbury Bake-Off cookbook”.  These cookbooks are fantastic!  You can buy them in the check out lane at the grocery store.  The best part about the cookbooks is the pictures!  Each recipe has its own picture so you know what your end product will look like.  (Or at least, supposed to look like).  The Bake-Off cookbook is unique because the recipes are submitted by the contestants in the Bake-Off contest. 

Sun-Dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart is an extremely easy recipe to prepare.  The tangy-ness of the goat cheese mixes so well the sweetness of the sun-dried tomatoes.  I couldn’t find the oil packed tomatoes that the recipe called for, so I just used the ones in the vacuumed pack.  They are a bit chewier but I still think it tasted ok.  One more note, the recipe calls for a tablespoon of grated parmesan cheese.  It is supposed to be sprinkled on top of the tarts before baking.  I accidently mixed it into the cheese mixture.   Nobody’s perfect.

Sun-Dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart

 

1 (12oz) can Pillsbury Golden Layers Refrigerated Buttermilk Biscuits

½ cup mayonnaise

2 oz (1/2 cup) crumbled goat cheese

¼ cup chopped drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried onion flakes

1 teaspoon dried pesto seasoning

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Separate dough into 10 biscuits; separate each evenly into 2 layers, making 20 dough rounds.  Press each in an ungreased miniature muffin cup pan.
2. In a small bowl, mix mayonnaise, goat cheese, tomatoes, onion flakes and pesto seasoning.  Spoon about 1 ½ teaspoons into each dough-lined cup.  Sprinkle each with Parmesan cheese.
3. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 16 minutes or until golden brown.  I ended up baking them for 13 minutes.  Remove from muffin cups.  Cool 5 minutes before serving.