Kick off the holidays with this festive Christmas Appetiser – an Italian Cheese Log! It’s like an antipasto platter in dip form packed with minced salami, olives, peppers, green onions, a hefty dose of Italian seasonings, AND topped with sun dried tomato.
Terrific easy, make-ahead economical alternative to expensive cheese platters – and bursting with the holiday cheer!!!
A FESTIVE CHRISTMAS APPETIZER IDEA!
Bringing on some Christmas cheer with this festive Italian Cheese Log!!
It’s a far cry from your usual cheeseball with a handful of token flavourings. This one is jam packed with flavour…. loaded with Italian flavours!!
The secret ingredients in this are finely chopped salami and sun dried tomato. Taking the time to mince the salami really makes a difference because then it’s all throughout the cheese log – nobody wants to be that person who takes a giant scoop of dip only to find it’s completely devoid of salami!
As for the sun dried tomato – well, I contemplated putting it in the cheese log, but I simply couldn’t resist how great it looks when piled on top. Add a few sprigs of rosemary, and it just looks so fabulously festive – it’s a perfect Christmas appetiser for sharing!! 🎄🎄🎄
WHY YOU NEED THIS IN YOUR LIFE!
It would be so easy to ramble on and on about how great this Italian Cheese Log is, but you don’t need that. So let me just get right down to why you’ll love this!!
✅ Looks fabulous – a great Christmas appetiser made for sharing!
✅ Tastes incredible – packed with flavour!
✅ Easy
✅ Make ahead – keeps for up to a week*
✅ Makes loads
✅ But can also be scaled down
✅ Economical alternative to expensive cheese platters
✅ Adaptable and versatile! Skip the salami to make it meatless, change up the add ins!
* Subject to shelf life of salami
AN ANTIPASTO PLATTER – IN CHEESE LOG FORM!
I just love the colours in this. Even making it brings on the holiday cheer – look at all those colours! ↑↑↑
We’ve got salami, olives, chargrilled peppers (I like to use the jar with mixed colours – yellow and red – just for extra colour), cheese, and a nice hit of freshness from minced green onion.
Add a good dose of Italian seasonings – I like to make my own simple mix here but you can absolutely substitute with an Italian seasoning mix – then simply mix it all together, scrap into a loaf pan or freeform it into the shape of a log and refrigerate.
The refrigeration time is to firm it up so it can be turned out onto a platter and also to give it time for the flavours to meld. It’s terrific made on the day, but it’s even better the next day… and the next… and the next!
QUICK FESTIVE LOOK
Decorating it is my favourite part – the beauty of it being that it’s so easy!! I literally just dump an entire jar of sun dried tomatoes over the top – oil and all.
The oil is infused with flavour and it’s part of the overall eating experience. So with every bite, you have crisp salty crackers, the soft flavour packed Cheese Log, some extra pops of flavour from sun dried tomato AND juiciness from the sun dried tomato oil.
Ahhhh, it’s the perfect bite!!! 😇
If your people are more civilised than mine, then consider serving this Italian Cheese Log with small cheese knifes to spread onto crackers.
But if your people are like mine, you’ll skip the cutlery and just let everyone dive in with their hands, grabbing crackers and dunking it straight into the cheese log.
Yep, it’ll get messy. All that effort you go to, prettying it up and they are going to annihilate it.
And that’s totally ok. That’s what sharing food is all about, right?? Especially during the festive season! 😂 – Nagi x
MORE CHRISTMAS APPETISER IDEAS!
CHRISTMAS APPETISER – ITALIAN CHEESE LOG!
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
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Christmas Appetiser: Italian Cheese Loaf
Ingredients
Cheese Log:
- 500g/ 1 lb cream cheese , softened (Note 1)
- 1/3 cup sour cream (Note 2)
- 1/2 tsp EACH thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary, black pepper OR 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 1 tsp EACH garlic powder, salt, red pepper/chilli flakes (adjust to taste)
- 2 cup cheddar or other cheese , freshly grated (Note 3)
- 280g / 9 oz roasted peppers , drained and finely chopped
- 180g / 6 oz salami , finely chopped (Note 4)
- 3/4 cup green olives , finely chopped
- 1/3 cup green onion , finely minced (3 – 4 stalks)
Topping/serving:
- 220g / 7 oz sun dried tomato strips with OIL , roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup parsley , finely chopped (or chives)
- Rosemary sprigs (decoration)
- Jatz or other crackers , for serving
Instructions
- Spray a loaf pan with oil then line with cling wrap with overhang.
- Mix Cheese Log ingredients together. Taste and adjust salt if needed (bear in mind saltiness of crackers you are serving with).
- Scrape into loaf pan and level surface, pressing to remove air pockets. Smaller pan = taller loaf.
- Cover with cling wrap overhang and refrigerate for 4 hours+ (up to 1 week).
- Turn out onto platter, peel off cling wrap.
- Top with sun dried tomato and pour over oil. Garnish with parsley and rosemary sprigs to give it a festive look.
- Best to serve closer to room temp than fridge cold. Serve with crackers! Knives for smearing optional – it’s soft enough to scoop with crackers.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
LIFE OF DOZER
Cute Christmassy photos of Dozer is all part of the Christmas tradition. Except…… he fell asleep mid photo shoot! 😂
Love the new Site. Makes it even easier to use for a Canadian Boy like me. Thank you for all these amazing and easy recipes!
Nagi, the new site makes finding your recipes so easy.
Always look forward to your posts and catching up on Dozers latest antics.
Great appetiser for big reunions!!
Congrats on the new web page, looks really nice 🙂
ThankSS!! XXX
Boy it doesn’t get any more festive than that, and it can be made ahead perfect!
The new website is great! It’s really making me anxious for your next post! Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipe. It’s a “must try”!
I love anything with cream cheese and roasted peppers. Looking forward to bringing this to my next Christmas party!
I love the pictures and instructions for your recipes! New Website looks great!!
Love the new website. Great recipe to start the holiday celebrations going to make this weekend. Dozier you look very festive.
Love your recipes
😍😍😚🔥🔥 I can’t wait to try to make mine at home. I hope its okay to say—>looks breathtakingly delicious.
Great website. Love your recipe collection.
Love the new website. Easy to navigate and much faster.
I will be making for xmas party next week, looks fantastic
Love the new website!!
Hey Nagi,
I absolutely love-
* the tabs at the top which takes your straight to specific parts of the page eg. Recipe, dozer.
* at the top of the page it shows you where the recipe will be placed and the steps you need to follow through
*how you have changed the text format to help navigate through the recipe and notes easily- bold key words !
*your new blog pic- you look beautiful and very content 💖
Some suggestions-
*have the picture of the recipe just below the title (as it’s usually the picture that gets me scrolling further down)
*a hyperlink to go straight to comments section, which will skip having to scroll through lots of content
* a way to tick the box of ingredients once we have them
Glitch
*lagging backspace when I try to press it backspace it takes a while to clear so I keep holding it down and it ends up removing way more writing than I intended. .I am using an iPhone
Thank you, you never cease to disappoint with your delicious recipes and fantastic detailed blog posts.
Mona xx
All your recipes are the best Nagi thank you for your dedication.
Have a wonderful festive time xx
Wow! It sounds wonderful, and I love that I can customize it. I’m thinking maybe replacing part of the cream cheese with goat cheese, and love the idea of adding artichoke hearts. Thanks, Nagi! P.S. The new website looks great! Thanks for all your hard work!
It looks good, Nagi! And I love your flatbread recipe… Have made it sooooo many times already!
I love the new website – appears easy to follow
Your new website ROCKS! Congratulations!