PC Fig & Goat Cheese Blooms

I think if I had to live only on appetizers, I would be one of the happiest people on earth. My love for appetizers goes hand in hand with my penchant for small foods, and my love of variety. I would much rather taste and sample a bite of 12 different things rather than eat one large portion of a meal. I wonder if I have an attention problem because I am so easily tired of things and I want to move on to the next shiny/new/fun thing. Plus my curiosity (or is it gluttony?) makes me feel like I need to sample a bit of everything because I need to know what it tastes like. Appetizers then, are a perfect solution to satisfy my gastronomic curiosities because then I won’t indulge if they are portioned into bite-sized pieces. Unless they’re really good; in which case I’ll eat 29,382 of them and not bat an eye. Self-restraint is not one of my fortes when it comes to delicious food.

Recently, we went to visit some friends and instead of making a sit-down dinner, they set out a smorgasbord of different appetizers and snacks...it was pure heaven. One of the items they served was a PC brand product (Don’t you love that the no-name brand of PC has now become an actual brand? If you go into a grocery store now, there’s no-name, PC, brand name...I thought PC was the no name?? I get confused so easily at the store, I know.) from the frozen appetizer section of the store.

PC Fig & Goat Cheese Blooms are squares of frozen puff pastry topped with goat cheese and a dollop of fig preserves. It all sits in a foil cup, and come 12 to a box. You simply take off the plastic wrapper on the tray and pop the whole tray into the oven. The puff pastry rises and puffs up while it bakes and the cheese and fig turn into a gooey blanket. I did find that I had to watch it pretty carefully once it was in the oven since it started to burn on the edges long before its minimum recommended baking time. This is something to be mindful of when you’re baking as well.

You’ll need to let it cool for a few minutes before serving, because you shouldn’t be impatient like me or else you’ll burn yourself biting into the hot cheese. Let me tell you, it was not a pleasant feeling! Once cooled to a reasonable temperature however, and safe to eat, these blooms were delicious. The pastry was light and flaky, and the goat cheese and fig combined to create a flavour explosion. The ratio of cheese to fig to pastry was spot on, and each bite had the perfect balance of crispy, creamy and sweet. I could have eaten these all day (and would have, if we didn’t run out) and was impressed with the taste and the presentation. For a quick appetizer that feels fancy, these would hit the mark for any occasion. And if you do decide to serve them, you may want to get more than one box so no one fights over the last one.