I LOVE to bring great appetizers to a party. I think there is really something awesome with preparing a dish, presenting it to a room full of people that you may or may not know particularly well and saying, I made this for you. Please don’t hate it.
Party food should be fun food, unfussy and easy to prepare. Do you remember my Artichoke Dip? Or the Gougeres? All easy, all awesome appetizers to bring to a party! And this one is no different. The only thing that is going to take time is caramelizing the onions, but the flavor of the onions and the dates and the balsamic with that hint of smoky goodness from the cheese? OMGSODELICIOUS. It’s a hit, trust me. And you use a pre-prepared pizza crust. I mean, how much easier does it GET?!?!
Try this out for your next party – your guests will thank you!
Smoked Cheese Flatbread
Ingredients
2 Medium Onions, thinly sliced
1 TB butter
1 TB Olive Oil
1 TB Brown Sugar
1 TB Balsamic Vinegar
1/4 cup Pitted, Whole Dates – cut these up into 1/2 inch pieces or so as you want them spread evenly throughout the flat bread.
1/4 cup Pine Nuts – Get these from the bulk section in your grocery store as bags of pine nuts can get pricey and you don’t need that many. If you have to buy a bigger bag of them? Keep them in the freezer and they won’t go bad.
3/4 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
3/4 cup Smoked Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1 16 oz pre-baked pizza crust – I used Boboli and it worked GREAT!
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a large skillet, cook the onion in butter and oil over medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Stir in the sugar, vinegar and the dates. Keep cooking for about 10 more minutes, until the onions are golden brown and caramelized (YUM). Take them off the heat and stir in the nuts.
In a bowl, combine the cheeses and then sprinkle evenly over the pizza crust. Top with the onion mixture.
Place the crust on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly. This last time, that took about 13 minutes… just keep an eye on it.
Let the flatbread stand for 5 minutes before cutting into two inch squares. Plate that bad boy and be prepared to impress your guests!!!
Enjoy!
What’s your favorite party appetizer?
