Fresh Fig Flowers with Goat Cheese and Toasted Walnuts

I just cannot get enough of my local farmer's market! I love going in there with a blank canvas and leaving inspired. This week's inspiration was figs. Uh, actually, so was last week's. We had a bunch of friends over last weekend for a grilled pizza party, and fresh figs were the star of my pizza. Don't worry, that post is coming soon. But for now, you'll just have to settle for these little beauties!

Fresh Fig Flowers with Goat Cheese and Toasted Walnuts

Aren't they pretty? They are cut into flowers, broiled for a few minutes, stuffed with creamy goat cheese, drizzled with balsamic vinegar, broiled a bit longer, dressed with a toasted walnut and finished off with a drizzle of honey. 

Is your mouth watering? 

I used Brown Turkey figs for this appetizer. 

To make your fig flowers:

1.Wash figs

2.Cut stem off

3. Cut from the top down, about 3/4 of the way

4. Cut in other direction from top down, about 3/4 of the way

To cook the figs, I placed them in a mini muffin pan, so then did not spread out too much as they got warm.

Ok, so let's get started.

Fresh Fig Flowers with Goat Cheese and Toasted Walnuts

     makes 8 fig flowers

8 fresh figs

4 oz goat cheese

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

8 toasted walnuts

2 tsp honey

Wash figs, cut of stems, cut from top to bottom, about 3/4 of the way down, then cut other direction from top down, about 3/4 of the way down. Do not cut figs all the way down or they will not keep their shape. Place fig flowers in mini muffin tin and broil on low for 3 minutes. Remove from oven and fill each flower with small dollop of goat cheese. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over goat cheese. Return pan to oven and broil on low for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and top each fig flour with toasted walnut then drizzle with honey.

Serve warm. 

Serve these fig flowers as a pretty appetizer at your next party or just make them for a healthy snack. Dress up a plain spinach salad with these to make it fancy or serve them with brunch.

Linked up to Merry Mondays!

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