Goat Cheese and Honey Danish with Red Grapes

                                                    Photography by Rachel Horesovsky

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Today is my youngest daughter's 22nd birthday (when did I get to be so old?).  Rachel and I made these little beauties a couple weeks ago and I have been saving them to post until her birthday.  They are really a step above your typical yucky sweet cheese danish.  The goat cheese is tangy and light, sweetened only with a little honey and fragrant with a dusting of freshly cracked black pepper.  Rather than baking the grapes, which would make them mushy, we press them onto the molten goat cheese right when the pastries come out of the oven so they are crunchy and sweet.

I think these "danish" are excellent for brunch, but would serve equally as well as an hors d'oeuvre with a bottle of Beaujolais Nouveau and a bowl of toasted walnuts.

Best of all, these are semi-homemade! I use ordinary flaky biscuits in a tube from the grocery store for the crust.  These incredibly delicious pastries can literally be made in about 20 minutes!

Brunch in the Tiki on a sunny fall morning!

Goat Cheese and Honey Danish with Red Grapes
makes 8

1 tube flaky biscuits in a tube
4-6 oz. goat cheese chevre
about 4 tsp honey
fresh cracked black pepper
seedless red grapes cut in half (about 2 dozen grapes)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Flatten individual biscuits on an un-greased baking sheet until they are about 4 inches in diameter.  Crumble goat cheese evenly atop flattened biscuits.  Drizzle with about 1/2 tsp honey and dust lightly with freshly cracked black pepper.

Bake pastries 14-16 minutes until golden brown and cheese is bubbly.  Immediately after removing from oven, press halved red grapes into the molten cheese.

Let pastries cool about 10 minutes before serving.