Smoky-Sweet Bacon Cheese Spread
photo by flower7
- Ready In:
- 2hrs 15mins
- Ingredients:
- 20
- Yields:
-
2 cups
- Serves:
- 8
ingredients
- 8 ounces neufchatel cheese
- 4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup)
- 1⁄4 - 1⁄2 teaspoon chili powder, adjust to taste
- 1⁄4 - 1⁄2 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper, adjust to taste (smoked chile)
- 1⁄4 cup bacon, crumbled (I used Hormel real crumbled bacon bits)
- 1⁄4 cup kalamata olive, pitted and minced
- 1⁄4 cup dried cranberries, minced
- 1⁄4 cup dates, pitted and minced
- 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (1/4 cup)
-
To Garnish
- chile powder, smoked or paprika
- feta cheese, crumbled
- parsley, chopped
-
To Serve
- cracker
- chips
- bagel chips
- pita chips
- assorted crudites
- egg, hard boiled
- flour tortilla
- mushroom
directions
- In a small bowl, cream together neufchatel and feta, scraping the bowl until well combined.
- Beat in chili powder and ground chipotle powder and adjust to taste.
- Scrape bowl and beat in bacon, olives, cranberries, and dates until well combined.
- Stir in last 1/4 cup of crumbled feta cheese.
- Put in a covered container and chill for at least 2 hours. The flavors will develop more the longer it sits. You can mold it by pressing plastic wrap into a bowl and pressing the spread into it, cover and chill, then turn out onto serving platter.
- To serve, spread into a pretty bowl on a platter or mound on a platter. Sprinkle with feta, chili powder and fresh chopped parsley. Surround with desired foods.
- For Tortilla Wheels, Spread this on flour tortillas, roll them up and tightly wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for a few hours until firm. Unwrap them, trim away ends and cut each roll into 8 slices crosswise to make wheels. You could try baking them too! I would try 400°F Place wheels on baking sheets and bake 15-20 minutes until browned.
- For stuffed mushrooms, hollow out mushrooms, you can add some chopped stems to the spread. Fill mushrooms with spread and bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes.
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Reviews
-
This is a very interesting combination of flavors. I like the sweet- spicy- salty mix. The only thing I changed was to replace the ground chipotle, which I did not have, with hot/sharp paprika (brought back from Hungary). I served with crackers but since I have some left, I will be trying it wrapped in tortilla also. Thanks for sharing!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I'm not as active here anymore, but you can find me playing at the new recipezazz.com. I'm not a great photographer, but I love to take food photos with Freddy Cat to bring a smile to people's day. I love to cook and share good food with other people. I have a very large collection of cookbooks. I used to enjoy being able to look up recipes on Zaar by ingredients I had on hand. I miss the Zaar tag game community. Everyone was so nice, and it was super fun. Ah, the good ol' days.