Ree Drummond's 4-Ingredient, Sweet-and-Salty Appetizer Deserves a Spot on Your Holiday Menu

From filming her Food Network show with a cell phone at her home ranch kitchen to hilariously attempting TikTok challenges with her family, we're becoming bigger and bigger fans of the more casual, relatable Ree Drummond that's emerging in 2020. (And we like her even more since she ditched keto for this healthier lifestyle strategy!)

So we've been keeping a keen eye on what she's been cooking up on her latest on-air episodes, especially as the holiday season approaches and her creations often offer a nice balance of indulgence, flavor and a bit of nutrition.

On this weekend's Christmas Unwrapped, the Pioneer Woman shared a simple and delicious-sounding appetizer idea that we hope to include on our household and virtual happy hour menus early and often this season. This 20-minute Fig and Blue Cheese Bruschetta can be scaled for celebrations small or large, and calls for just four main ingredients: Toasted baguette slices, fig spread, crumbled blue cheese and fresh basil. The only cooking required is to toast the bread, although we love this tip from one viewer who has tried the recipe.

"[Bake] again after the fig and blue cheese are added. Remove from [the] oven and drizzle with honey and add chopped marcona almonds," viewer Kim suggests. And another home cook, Deanna, tried a variation that also sounds wonderful, "I substituted the blue cheese for goat cheese and it was a HUGE hit! Simple and delicious."

Add fresh fig slices to that last idea and you pretty much have Ina Garten's Fig and Goat Cheese Toast recipe. All the more reason for the much-anticipated, Drummond-desired Barefoot Contessa and Pioneer Woman partnership should become a reality. For now, we'll be crossing our fingers, watching for a petition to sign related to that dream duo and noshing on these Fig and Blue Cheese Bruschetta.