Get the Recipe: Cheese Spread
This cheese spread recipe (almost identical to pimento cheese) uses sharp cheddar cheese, cream cheese, mayo, sweet cherry peppers, grated onion, and a touch of pickle juice.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup or 2oz cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons dill pickle juice, (see notes for subs)
- 1 teaspoon sweet onion, fine grated
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ cup Mezzetta jarred sweet cherry peppers, finely chopped (about 5-7 medium peppers)
- 8 oz or 2⅔ cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Equipment
- kitchen scale optional
- 1 medium bowl
- 1 Whisk
- microplane or fine grater
- cutting board
- chef knife
- box grater
- 1 fork or spatula
Print Recipe
Instructions
- First take all of the ingredients out of the refrigerator before you begin, so they can warm up a bit. (the cream cheese and cheddar cheese specifically mix better if they sit for between 15 and 30 minutes before use)
- Next, measure out and add the cream cheese, mayo, garlic powder, and dill pickle juice to a mixing bowl. Then, grate the onion with a microplane or fine grater until you have enough to add to the bowl as well. Mix the ingredients in the bowl together until they smooth out and become uniform in texture.
- Now, open the cherry peppers and take 5-7 of them out of the jar. Pull off the top (stem) and peel the pepper apart to reveal the seeds. Clean out the seeds from the middle so you only have the flesh of the pepper left to chop. Continue prepping the peppers until you have about 1/4 cup or 75g of pepper to cut. Fine dice them on a cutting board, add them to the bowl, and mix again. Mixing everything but the cheese now will give the final spread a much more consistent final flavor.
- Once mixed, grate the sharp cheddar cheese and add that to the bowl. Mix in the grated cheese for about 5 minutes with a fork or spatula, until smooth. The cheese will break up into smaller pieces after a minute or so, but if you keep going it will emulisfy with the mayo and cream cheese and get a really nice texture. Serve with crackers and pickled veggies.
Notes
- This cheese spread will last roughly 1-2 weeks in the fridge if kept in a tightly sealed container with minimal time out of the refrigerator. If you serve it at a party and the spread is left out for more than 2 hours, please to not keep leftovers.
- If you don't keep dill pickles in your house or want to purchase them for this recipe, you can also use the juice from the jar of sweet cherry peppers. The cheese spread will be a little tangier and lose some of the sweet flavor of dill, but it will still be good. :)
- Feel free to swap the cherry peppers for pimento peppers if you are looking to go more traditional. The resulting spread will be slightly less tangy, but the two peppers really are very similar to each other.
Nutrition
Serving: 1oz | Calories: 100kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Trans Fat: 0.004g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 187mg | Potassium: 38mg | Fiber: 0.1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 301IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 152mg | Iron: 0.1mg