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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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! 😂
I love the new website design. A lot easier to read! Thanks so much for your recipes. My husband says “Is this a Nagi recipe?”Love to Dozer as well!
Hi Nagi,
Love the new website! I especially like the drop down box to search for specific recipes. I never go “ugh” when I see an email from you in my inbox. Thanks for all your wonderful recipes and all of your hard work.
Love the new website. I would love to have a $500.00 knife but I think your recipes are worth way more. Never had a recipe from you that wasn’t at least 6 stars. Knife be darned.
Hi Nagi! I like the new website, especially having the ability to search by category, and I LOVE the Meet Dozer page. Such a cutie! My only suggestion would be to maybe also add an index page that lists all recipes by name within each category and links to that recipe. While the pages with the photos are nice, the user has to scroll through so many screens to find what they are looking for. I think the addition of a simple list with links would be a useful alternative.
This recipe looks amazing! I appreciate that you also add measurements for the USA! I also enjoy seeing Dozer.
Loved the old website. The new one is better and if it’s more easily searchable that’s teriffic
Hi Naji,
Only 2,444 entries to date to compete with for that beautiful knife (big sigh).
As your website is my ‘go to’ cookbook you’ve basically done what I have in my bookmarks – set up easy to find categories! I also love the 15 minute meal collection, the ‘jump straight to the recipe’ option at the top of the each recipe page and the ‘only quick and easy’ check box. My only constructive criticism would be the some text hasn’t wrapped neatly in the ‘Collections’ section.
Did I mention I would dearly love that knife ; )
Kind regards,
David
Love your new site! This looks delicious. Can’t wait to make it.
Great new website. Love your recipes,so tasty!
Going to try today’s recipe for Christmas
Di
Love the new format Nagi, also love your dog🥰
Flashy new website and so many tasty recipes! One suggestion (or maybe I haven’t found it yet): when you search by category, have all of the recipes in that category show up rather than just the featured recipes.
Your updated site is great and this recipe is perfect for my upcoming entertaining. Colorful and scrumptious. Thanks. Merry Christmas.
Love your recipes Nagi. New to the site (couple of months) and it has become the most cooked. Love Dozer and your recipes so keep ’em comin’
Hi Nagi,
Wonderful food photography greatly enhances the recipe search experience.
Cheers,
Kev
I love the new updated website! I have not run into any issues on the site yet. Of course I love the photos of Dozer. I have a golden retriever also.
What can I say I use all your recipe and I can’t fault any. All of them so easy to follow and very hard to go worng. Amazing.
Your blog is tops, it’s my ‘go to’ site for all things foodie. The recipes are easy to follow and always turn out well. Having a few friends over next weekend and will try out this festive number!
Now the website is as good as the recipes, great update Nagi keep up the outstanding work.
Looks fabulous! Definitely going to give this a try. Also love the new website, makes me excited to explore and try more of your recipes. Thank Nagi!
Love the new site Nagi xxxxBut I dont have a website so I dont think you will get this??