What Can I Make With Cream Cheese Spread
We all know cream cheese is a perfect match for smoked salmon, but there's so much more it can do. Here are 15 of our best non-morning-specific ways to cook with America's favorite breakfast spread:
1. Build a Better Brownie
It doesn't matter if you're Team Fudgy or Team Cakey (or Team Gluten-Free). Adding cream cheese to the brownie batter makes every bite more rich and dense. Those hypnotic swirls are telling you to take another bite, and you should.
2. Curb That Crab Rangoon Craving
This decadent take-out appetizer is literally fried cream cheese. Think about that for a second. Actually, don't think, just grab another.
3. Master Mashed Potatoes
When mascarpone is going too far and sour cream isn't doing the trick, you need to get on the cream cheese–mashed potato train. A dash of horseradish gives the dish a nose-twitching tweak that really wakes up the creamy potatoes.
That's cream cheese up in there.
Photo by Chelsea Kyletext in callout
4. Put Them in Your Muffins
When our Epi colleague Matt Duckor makes muffins, he likes to top the portioned batter with cubes of cold cream cheese (the kind that comes in a block works best for this). The cream cheese sinks into the batter as the muffins bake, resulting in a sweet, creamy surprise when you bite into one.
5. Whip Up a Cheesy Dip
Need something to dunk your crunchy pretzels and crisp pita chips into? A warm, party-ready cheese dip is so easy to make, you don't even need a recipe.
6. Roll a Cheese Ball
No, it's not 1978—the cheese ball is timeless.
7. Whip Up a Cream Cheese Frosting
Few desserts are as good as a cream cheese frosting–covered carrot cake, but cream cheese frosting is also delicious on chocolate cake or red velvet cake, if that's your thing. Bored with plain frosting? Add lemon zest or a drizzle of maple syrup to it.
9. Glaze Some Cinnamon Rolls
Sugar at breakfast is at its finest in a cinnamon roll topped with a sticky-sweet cream cheese glaze.
9. Or Heck, Just Make a Whole Cake With it
Cheesecake is just a socially acceptable way to eat cream cheese by the spoonful. Cut it up into squares and top with fruit to make it seasonal. Want to experiment? Cut back on the ingredients—you can make an awe-inspiring cheesecake with only three.
10. Enter Your Grilled Cheese into the Sandwich Hall-of-Fame
Add a layer of cream cheese to your grilled cheese for the creamiest, cheesiest sandwich ever.
11. Dye It and Feed It to Your Kids
When our Epi coworker Kat Sacks was a kid, her mom used to add food dye to cream cheese and make sandwiches with it for Kat's lunch. (The ones made with yellow cream cheese were "Big Bird sandwiches" and the blue ones were "Cookie Monster sandwiches," Kat told us with a straight face. Best. Mom. Ever.)
12. Stop For Tea Time and a Sandwich
Picnics, English tea, and the Kentucky Derby all have one thing in common: They're better with a Benedictine sandwich. To make one of these cooling and creamy bites, mix cream cheese with dill, spread it on untoasted rye, and slide on a few cucumber slices for a snack that's best enjoyed with your pinky up.
13. Serve a Southern Canapé
Cream cheese works like a champ to bind together this classic Southern spread, a deviled ham mixture that can go on crackers or toasts. You've never had ham and cheese like this before.
14. Make the Most Romantical Retro Dessert
Coeur à la Crème literally translates to "heart of cream," and this masterpiece is after our own hearts. Combine cream cheese and goat cheese in heart-shaped molds to make this vanilla-scented sweet.
15. Add It to Pastry Dough
Cream cheese dough makes the most tender, flaky rugelach ever.
What Can I Make With Cream Cheese Spread
Source: https://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/ways-to-cook-with-cream-cheese-recipes-tips-article