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! 😂
Conjunctivitis on the new look website Nagi! Looks amazing and much easier to navigate and to hang out and browse around for inspiration. Well done 😀
The new format really “pops”,A sharp new image for recipe tin eats for the new year. Keep up the good work Nagi!
Love the new site able to quickly find the “Chef ” pork cubana recipe that I remembered from Easter…a while ago..now it can be my contribution to this years xmas bash.. great site and as always brilliant recipes and stories.. Happy x mas to you and yours
Great idea and very festive looking!
Hi Nagi
Thoroughly enjoyed browsing through your recipes and attempted on quite a number of them which turned out ver well indeed.
Another main attraction to your website is “Dozer” yes I am another dog mad individual.
The new website is great with the font which is easier to read.
Merry Christmas to you and family.
Cream cheese with sweet chilli sauce and crackers is how I always do it and now that looks and sounds BORING! in comparison to your recipe!!! So easy and looks de-Vine!
New website…. getting used to it, but loving the easy access!
I love this recipe. I’m gonna try it. Instead of crackers I may use ciabatta. Love the new website format and upgrade . It’s easier to fetch recipes !
I never missed the indexed recipes because I opened and then printed most of your recipes since discovering your website. BUT… now I see what I missed BEFORE I found you! The website is great- I love the photos. Looking forward to spending some time scrolling thru recipes.
And this cheese log looks absolutely delicious and I am going to make it on christmas!
love the design looks great.
my god the cheese log hmmmmmmmmmmmm
The new design is quite nice, but the recipe section needs getting used to! :o)
Hello Nagi
All tech stuff really good. In my humble opinion the colour scheme is a little cold for a food website, thanks for all your recipes, im very gtatefull.
The new website looks great! I didwonder why you circled the item in picture 2 until I realized it was the edge of the bowl. 😃
Looking good!
Great web site, easy to navigate and it’s sectioned off as to how I feel and want to cook! I’ll have to try the Salisbury Steak! I also enjoyed the story about your homeless man and how you help his nutritional needs!
Beautifully done. So colorful and the Italian cheese log recipe just in time for my Christmas Party this Sunday. . . .AND the dog .. .💞💞🐾🐾. Job well done
Oh my gosh I cannot wait to make this. It looks gorgeous and so delicious. LOVE the new website. Thanks for all you share😊
Love the new updates. I will be making this Italian cheese log for a party
The new website looks very clean and bright. Just the matter of getting used to it! It is still my No. 1 Horton website when I need some inspiration to cook!
Can’t wait to try the Christmas Cheese log. So festive!
Absolutely love the new website. The photos are gorgeous and the site is so easy to navigate. Have already bookmarked it so I can find inspiration at a moment’s notice. Thanks!
The new website looks great! Many thanks for the clear and wonderful recipes. This cheese logs looks great.