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! 😂
Easy, economical and festive. Do you think Cranberries would work as the decoration on top?
Yum. Can’t wait to try this! I liked the website the way it was before but have just browsed here and there to check it out and the new version is great too!
I think the new website is amazing. I don’t know if the new site would have any bearing on the photos, but they seem to be so crisp now. The best are the updates of Dozer. Don’t get me wrong I love the recipes…but Dozer is the best!
I love the look and feel of the new website, congratulations! The recipe looks fantastic too 😉
Like the layout of the new website. Your site is a favourite to start looking for ideas each week for our family Sunday dinner.
Hi Nagi. Love the new website. First thing I did was to scroll down to see if you still involved Dozer at the end of the recipe! Wouldn’t be the same without him. That being said. Your recipes are always fabulous and tasty and I have many favourite used over and over.
Great looking site, love the Dozer tab!
We may not be able to wait until Christmas to try this Italian cheese log recipe, maybe this weekend along with our mandatory Recipe Tin Wings for football games!
The cheese log is creative and tastes fantastic!
I made a second with cauliflower – green onion – zuchinni – fresh tomato topping – for veggie l.overs
Great webpage look too!
Love the new website. I look forward to all the new recipes in 2019. Happy Christmas Nagi and Dozer.
Wow!! Another great recipe Nagi will be making this for Christmas. Love the new website and Dozer has his own page!!!!!
Looks great. Rich, though! Would be terrific with Prosecco, a bit of lightness to temper the mix of flavors.
Another fun ingredient for this time of year is pink peppercorns. Just sprinkle them around the serving platter, they look like Holly berries and taste great with cream cheese. And they are not hot or overly spicy.
Congratulations on the new site I love your recipes love reading your blogs. Well done look forward to trying out more of your easy to follow recipes.
Your new website design looks sleek and modern!
New website is very professional looking. Might take some getting used to; info overload.
What a wonderful array of beautiful colours, I could just taste it whilst reading. Your new website is also great with the bigger reading font. Well done.
Love your new site. Food always looks so good. I love trying new recipes now that i’m retired, Yours are easy to follow and I love Dozer.
Great looking new site, LOVE the Dozer tab!!!
Not sure we can wait until Christmas to try this Italian cheese log recipe. Maybe for football games this weekend along with our mandatory Recipe Tin Wings!
Hi Nagi…This receipe looks delicious, can’t wait to try it. I think your new website is terrific. Clean and easy to follow!! Merry Christmas to you and Dozer.
I can’t wait to try this something different for the table.
The new page is clear and soo glad that Dozer is still being showcased. I think I will need to try the Italian cheese log for a different presentation.