Cream cheese can be used in many ways for appetizers, such as dips, spreads, finger sandwiches, and even baked inside phyllo dough. It can be diluted with sour cream or other ingredients to adjust sweetness and thickness. Popular pairings include artichoke, sun-dried tomatoes, salmon, and crabmeat.
A cream cheese appetizer can take many forms, because it’s such a versatile ingredient. It can be used as a base for a dip or a cream to put on small slices of toast. The cheese can be used in spoonfuls of crackers to accompany fish or other small slices of food. There are classic cream cheese appetizer sandwiches that can be cut into small sized squares to serve with tea. More exotic uses find cheese wrapped in ham, mixed with hot sauce, or even baked.
One sometimes forgotten aspect of making a cream cheese appetizer is that, for some tastes, the cheese can be too sweet or too thick. In these situations, the cheese can be diluted with sour cream, half-and-half, cottage cheese or even cream. Whipping the cream cheese to add air can also help lighten the flavor in situations where the texture may be too thick, although this can take some time and effort without an electric mixer.
There are a variety of spreads and sauces that can be made as a cream cheese appetizer. A classic pairing is artichoke hearts and cream cheese, mixed with salt and pepper or finely diced vegetables like chili. Another spread can be made with sun-dried tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic, and shallots. A quick dip can be created by mixing cream cheese and sauce and heating it for a few minutes until it combines into a smooth mixture. All of these can be served with toasted baguette slices or crackers.
A finger sandwich is often a popular cream cheese appetizer. These can be something very simple, like cucumber and cream cheese slices on a plain sandwich. It can also be something more dramatic, like cream cheese mixed with nuts, jalapeno peppers, scallions, and a little cumin spread inside a tortilla, rolled, and cut into medallions that look like pinwheels. There are also some sandwich-like preparations, such as spreading cream cheese between slices of ham, wrapping the ham around a pickle, and then cutting it into thin rounds.
Salmon and cream cheese is a favorite combo for many people, and a simple cream cheese cracker topped with smoked salmon can often satisfy a craving. Diced salmon can be blended with mild Italian spices and mixed with cream cheese and sour cream for a dip. There is also a way to mix cheese with chunks of salmon to make small cheese balls which are then rolled in dill-flavored breadcrumbs. This can also be made with crabmeat to make a kind of cold crab cake appetizer.
Another type of labor-intensive cream cheese appetizer is one created when small pillows of cream cheese are baked inside a phyllo-sized square of phyllo dough. Cream cheese, tomato, shallots and an egg yolk are mixed together in a bowl. A tablespoon of the mixture is placed in the center of each phyllo square, then the square is wrapped around the cheese and baked. This creates a very rich appetizer with a subtle flavour. Gorgonzola, bleu and dill can also add a little extra flavor to the entree when mixed with cream cheese.
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