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! 😂
So glad I found your website last year … this update is beautiful!
Thanks for the recipe. Im going to mke this
The redesign is great! I love being able to filter by “quick & easy” only (if this was available before, I didn’t notice!).
The log looks so savoury and festive.
Wow, Nagi! I really love the new look – very clean and streamlined! One thing that I might suggest – the text you use for the instructions in your ingredients list (ie ‘chopped’ or ‘at room temp’ etc) is a light grey on my system, and is not as easy to read as everything else – perhaps a light blue or something would give you better contrast?
Otherwise I love the new site. I really love how uncluttered it is. And one very important thing – at least from my POV. One thing that I have always appreciated about your site (and still DO!) is that when I scroll past the embedded video, it does NOT try to put up a scaled down video in the corner of my browser window like so many other recipe blogs do. That has always annoyed me, as it won’t ever let me close it until it’s played five seconds or more of the leading ad. Thank you SO MUCH for not doing that!
Cheers, and I hope you have a GREAT holiday, and have lots of time to play with Dozer!
(oh… and the cheese log looks fab! ^_-)
Love the new look and ease of searching your recipes!
Love your new web site!!
You just made my favorite go to web site so much easier to find that one of a kind delicious dish…
Happy Holidays!!
Wonderful new website Nagi!! Love it, and I’d love to go into the draw for the knife, thank you xx
Loving the new website Nagi! Just one question on this recipe though – do I *have* to wait till Christmas to make it? Looks too good to wait 🙂 p.s. Dozer is adorable, hope he had a good snooze!
Great new website Nagi, well organized and easy to navigate ….. Congratulations !
Merry Christmas Nagi. You are the bomb. Love the new website. You are a life saver when it comes to cooking.
If like it! It’s easier to find more recipes.
I love the new website!!! My favorite is your videos! And I’m so excited to make your prime rib for Christmas. I’ll send you a photo. Congrats! And happy holidays.
In the few minutes I have checked out the new format, the comments have gone from 731 to 739.
great site nagi( i thought the other was also great) 😉
This recipe as well as many others looks delicious.
Love the new website it looks very streamlined and is simple to use. Thank you and Merry Christmas.
I will admit, I went immediately to Visit Dozer’s portion of your new site. But, I will say that I have been very happy since I discovered your website, blog?
Every single recipe I have made has been loved by my family, & I have prepared many of them. Thank you…good food & entertainment. Two of my favorite things!
Love your recipes and your website is da bomb, too. The pictures are beautiful and so appetizing, your comments are funny and sincere, you explain and break-down recipes to make them fun to recreate. Can’t wait to try the log. You are my kitchen inspiration. Thank you.
Great new layout! Just a giant “thank you” to you for your wonderful recipes…..
I’ve been a long time follower of your site and return time and again to many of your recipes. I especially appreciate the videos, perfect for us visual learners. Format is nice, but content will always bring me back for more.
I can hardly wait to make it . It is my favorite food-CHEESE. Love the new website.