Taylor knows how much I love my basic recipes. Imagine a cheese spread recipe that you can freely adapt to suit your mood or the specific tastes of a friend or family member. It is fun to be creative with flavor when you know with absolute certainty that the recipe is going to work out!
Basic Cheese Spread has three ingredients: cream cheese, sour cream and heavy cream. From that base, you can take the flavor profile in any direction. Below you will find recipes for three different cheese spreads that all begin with the three ingredient formula.
Garlic and Herb Spread is a fresh and delicious take on the herb cheeses that you can buy at the grocer. It is the perfect dip for crudite and makes a zesty spread for sandwiches. Toasted Pecan Spread is rich and warming. Feel free to substitute your favorite variety of toasted nut in this recipe. Serve the pecan spread with crackers or slices of buttered, toasted french bread. The Basic Cheese Spread recipe also makes a dynamite dessert spread. We added vanilla, confectioners sugar, Valrhona cocoa powder and a pinch of salt to the basic recipe to create Creamy Chocolate Dessert Spread. Serve the chocolate spread with cookies, fruit and slices of toasted cake. Or, eat it right from the spoon!
Garlic and Fresh Herb Cheese Spread
1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon heavy cream
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons chopped shallots
1 teaspoon chopped garlic, or to taste
2/3 cup chopped fresh herbs (we used parsley, thyme, and chives)
1. Put the cream cheese, sour cream, heavy cream, mustard, salt and pepper into the work bowl of a food processor. Pulse to blend the ingredients. Add the shallots and the garlic. Pulse to blend the ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the processor with a spatula. Add the fresh herbs. Pulse ON/OFF until the herbs are just blended into the cheese mixture. Empty the spread into a serving container and serve, or chill the spread in the refrigerator until needed.
Toasted Pecan Spread
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon dry thyme
pinch or 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to your taste)
1/2 teaspoon worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1.Put the cream cheese, sour cream, heavy cream, salt, pepper, thyme and cayenne into the work bowl of a food processor. Pulse to blend the ingredients. Add the worcestershire and mustard. Pulse to blend the ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the processor with a spatula. Add the toasted nuts to the cheese mixture. Pulse ON/Off until the pecans are just blended into the cheese mixture. Serve the spread immediately or chill in the refrigerator until needed.
Cream Chocolate Dessert Spread
1 (8 oz.) package of cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup plus 1 Tablespoon heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch kosher salt
2 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder, sifted (we used Valrhona)
1. Put the cream cheese, sour cream, heavy cream, vanilla and salt into the work bowl of a food processor. Pulse to blend the ingredients. Scrape down the sides of the processor with a spatula. Add the sifted confectioners sugar and sifted cocoa powder to the cheese mixture. Pulse the processor until the ingredients are well-blended and the the chocolate spread is smooth and creamy. Serve the spread immediately or chill in the refrigerator until needed.
Photography ©Taylor Mathis
Recipe © Sally James Mathis
These look delicious.
I’m going to make the Garlic Herb one and keep in the refrigerator for snacks with veggies.
The dessert one will have to wait. My kids have been eating too much sugar lately and I told them yesterday that it needs to stop….which means I can’t have sweets in the house.
Thanx for this very versatile base!