flavored cream cheese

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In yesterday’s post about bagelmaking, I mentioned briefly the bagel shop that I love so dearly. There are three locations of my beloved bagelry in town, but my most frequented is 1/4 block away from my office building. You walk in the door and are shuttled into a quick-moving line full of some townies and a TON of college students. You walk right past a million incredible desserts (s’mores bars!) and stand directly in front of the most glorious wall of freshly made bagels. A young college girl looks up over the counter and asks for your order. If I’m feeling healthy, it goes something like this:

Eleven grain. Toasted. With roasted red pepper.

But more often than not, it goes like this:

Asiago. Toasted. With roasted red pepper.

The Asiago bagel is life-changing. Cheesy, chewy and a total white-flour gut bomb. It is so incredible that it is worth the extra $0.75 I have to pay to get it in my mouth.

Regardless of the bagel of choice though, did you notice the constant up there? Roasted red pepper. Which, in non-bagel shop speak, translates to roasted red pepper parmesan cream cheese. A mouthful to say in a fast-moving bagel line, but how could I pass that up?

My favorite cream cheese got me thinking about generating my very own flavored cream cheeses. How hard could it be? What I found was that they were fun, easy and endlessly customizable. I have visions of serving brunch with a pile of bagels and a plethora of various homemade flavored cream cheeses.

But that would require me to entertain. And not be the recluse I am. Oh, and to clear the pseudo-photo studio I have constantly set up on my kitchen table.

Brunch vision squashed.

Anyway.

Today, I’m sharing my recipes for two—roasted red pepper and parmesan and honey almond, but I highly recommend you expand and share! The only thing to keep in mind is texture. Too watery of an add-in does not a good cream cheese make. Start off slow with any add-ins that might make the cream cheese runny. You can always add more.

Babyface and I may, or may not have just polished off the last of the roasted red pepper parmesan cream cheese with crackers last night. Dipable!

Honey Almond Cream Cheese

Ingredients

• 1-8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• Pinch of Salt

Directions

1. Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until well combined and slightly fluffy.
2. Refrigerate for at least an hour to meld flavors and allow cream cheese to set back up.

Roasted Red Pepper Parmesan Cream Cheese

Ingredients

• 1-8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1-8 ounce jar roasted red peppers, drained OR 1 red pepper, roasted, deseeded and peeled
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• Pinch of Salt

Directions

1. Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until well combined and slightly fluffy.
2. Refrigerate for at least an hour to meld flavors and allow cream cheese to set back up.

What’s your favorite way to eat a bagel?