Tag: cream cheese

Categories
Breakfast Featured Recipes Sauces

Veggie Cream Cheese

Veggie Cream Cheese from www.jasonscooking.com

Veggie Cream Cheese from www.jasonscooking.com

Background Spread Your Veggies

There’s an excellent bagel shop in Douglasville, GA called The Bagel Meister that I used to go to all the time. Unfortunately I’ve moved about an hour away (and no longer commute) so no more delicious Bagel Meister on the way to work for me.

The first time I went in, I was a bagel novice so I ordered a sesame bagel with plain cream cheese. Mrs. Meister was working the intake line that day and she said, “no.”

“Oh yeah,” I responded. “Well then what should I have?”
Her reply changed my bagel order forever. “I’m going to make you an everything bagel, double toasted with veggie cream cheese. You have to taste it before you go because if you don’t like it, I’ll make the sesame bagel for you.”

It was delicious and that’s the only bagel for me now.

Making bagels at home is fun and rather easy but it’s time consuming. Making your own cream cheese flavors, on the other hand, is both quick and easy. I couldn’t find another veggie cream cheese that I liked as much as the Meister’s cream cheese so I decided to make my own.

The RecipeRecipe
Veggie Cream Cheese
 
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Ingredients
  • ¼ Vidalia Onion, roughly chopped
  • ⅓ Red Bell Pepper, stemmed, seeded and roughly chopped
  • 1 Clove Garlic, peeled
  • 1 Hand Full Fresh Parsley, about ⅓ cup
  • 1 Tbs Milk
  • 8 oz Cream Cheese, softened
Instructions
  1. Pulse all of the veggies in a small food process about 10 times until they’re finely chopped.
  2. Transfer the veggies to a cheese cloth or 4 paper towels stacked on top of one another, gather up the corners like one of those camper’s-handkerchiefs-on-a-stick things, and squeeze the moisture out of the veggies.
  3. Add them back into the processor with the cream cheese and milk and process until it’s all mixed together.
  4. Store for up to 2 weeks in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
Tips and TricksTips and Tricks

If you want to save on calories, use Neufchâtel cheese instead of cream cheese. It’s the stuff that is marketed as low fat or 1/3 less fat cream cheese and is right next to the real stuff in the grocery store.

Feed the FreezerFeed the Freezer

You can certainly freeze this spread but it’ll lose some texture when you thaw it out. To loosen, beat in a little more milk after thawing.

Fun FactsFun Facts

Apparently making your own cream cheese is super easy. Who knew? I’ll add it to the list of things to try!

Categories
Appetizers Featured Recipes

Open Faced Cucumber Sandwiches

Cucumber Sandwich from www.jasonscooking.com
Open-Face Cucumber Sandwich

Cucumber Sandwich from www.jasonscooking.com

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Welcome to #PartyWeek! here at Jason’s Cooking! Every day this week, we will feature recipes for appetizers and snacks that are a great addition to your party menu. Whether you’re hosting a tailgate, shower, or book club these recipes are a classy twist on some southern party food staples.

I am sad to say that the first time I’d ever had a cucumber sandwich was at my friends’ baby shower this summer. I am talking specifically about the little finger food cucumber sandwiches that are served at baby showers throughout the south and not the delicious Bacon Cucumber Sandwich that is my favorite sandwich in all the land. After enjoying this tasty treat for the first time, I decided to find reasons to make them more and more often and so they seemed perfect for #PartyWeek!

My cucumber sandwich is a bit of a twist on the traditional white-bread-with-the-crust-cut-off sandwiches you know and love. The bread is upgraded, the cream cheese is vaguely reminiscent of ranch dressing, and they’re served open-faced to keep them from being too bready. They’re what I like to call Charleston Southern – but more on that tomorrow.

The RecipeRecipe
Open Faced Cucumber Sandwiches
 
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Recipe type: Appetizer
Serves: 48
Ingredients
  • 12 oz Cream Cheese, Softened
  • 1 Tbs Milk
  • 1 tsp Dried Dill
  • 1 tsp Dried Parsley
  • ½ tsp Cracked Black Pepper
  • 2 Baguettes
  • 2 Cucumbers
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°
  2. Slice the baguettes into ½ inch slices, place the slices on a large sheet pan and toast them in the preheated oven for 5 – 7 minutes until they just start to toast. Be careful not to dry them out completely.
  3. While your bread is toasting, beat together the cream cheese, milk, dill, parsley and pepper until smooth – I use my trusty KitchenAid for this part.
  4. Peel the cucumbers and slice them into ¼ in slices
  5. Spread some of the cream cheese mixture onto each piece of toast and top with a cucumber slice.
Tips and TricksTips and Tricks

For easy and consistent slicing of the cucumbers, consider a Mandoline Slicer. I’m not a huge fan of kitchen gadgets but I do keep one of these in the cabinet.

Feed the FreezerFeed the Freezer Make Ahead

You’ll want to assemble these sandwiches as close to service as possible to avoid soggy bread. You can, however, mix up the cheese, slice the bread, and slice the cucumbers the day before your event. Just store everything in separate containers in the refrigerator and then about an hour before service, toast the bread and assemble.

Fun FactsFun Facts

Cucumbers are 95% water so one 8 oz. cucumber counts as both a vegetable and one of your daily glasses of water.

Categories
Dessert Featured

Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Temperature350°Time35 mins

dessert_070214_chocolatepeanutbuttercupcakes

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As far as dessert is concerned, perfection was achieved when chocolate and peanut butter got together to make sweet sweet lovin’ down by the fire.  See what I did there?  Sweet?  Fire?  It’s funny.

Seriously though, I cannot resist this combination so when deciding on what to make for our sweet treat this week, I went with the chocolateyest peanut butteryest cupcake that I could find.  The bonus to this is that cakes and cupcakes are great freezer foods.  Check out the Freezing Tips below for more info on freezing unfrosted cupcakes.

The RecipeRecipe
Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
 
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Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
  • 2 Cups Sugar
  • 1-3/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
  • ¾ Cup Cocoa
  • 2 tsp Baking Powder
  • 2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 Cup Buttermilk
  • ½ Cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 1 Cup Boiling Water

For the Frosting
  • 8 oz Cream Cheese, Softened
  • ½ Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
  • 2 Cups Powdered Sugar
Instructions
Make the Cupcakes
  1. Heat oven to 350°
  2. Line 24 – 30 muffin tins with cupcake liners and spray the liners and top of muffin pan lightly with cooking spray.
  3. Mix everything together in a stand mixer or with beaters and fill muffin cups about ¾ full. The batter will be pretty thin.
  4. Cook for 22 – 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the cupcakes comes out clean.
  5. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Make the Frosting
  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat cream cheese and peanut butter together until it’s well mixed and lightened in color.
  2. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, a little bit at a time, until it’s all incorporated

Frost and Eat the Cupcakes!
Tips and TricksTips and Tricks

To make frosting the cupcakes easier, wait until they have cooled down. Use a cake decorating bag or make your own using a Ziplock bag. Put the frosting in the bag and cut off the corner. Frost away!

Feed the FreezerFeed the Freezer

Unfrosted cupcakes can be frozen for up to 3 months.  When you’re ready for a tasty cupcake, pull one out of the freezer, frost and enjoy!

Note: Freezing frosted cupcakes is not illegal and frosted cupcakes will do just fine in the freezer.  Never let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do with your cupcakes.

Fun FactsFun Facts
  • Cupcakes are over 200 years old.
  • 13% of wedding receptions now use cupcakes instead of traditional wedding cakes.
Categories
Dessert Featured

Banana Bread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Temperature325°Time40 mins

BackgroundBackground

I talked about Aunt Suzie’s amazing banana bread in a previous post and I can’t say enough how moist and delicious it is.  We’ve noticed that people like to put cream cheese on slices of banana bread so Michael thought it would be good with cream cheese frosting – he was right!

Enter the Banana Bread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.  This frosting recipe is what I think I remember my sister’s recipe is…why don’t I know, you ask?  We’ll I’m too busy/lazy to get out the recipe box she made me for Christmas one year to find the card that she wrote it down on!  Either way, it’s delicious and sweet and gooey and cream cheesy and you’ll love the frosting and the cupcakes that live under it.

The RecipeRecipe
Banana Bread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
 
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Prep time
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Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Ingredients
For the Cupcakes
  • 2 Super Ripe Bananas, mashed
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1¾ Cup Flour
  • 1½ Cup Sugar
  • 1 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1½ tsp Salt
  • 1 Cup Walnuts (optional)
  • ½ Cup Oil
  • ¼ Cup plus 1 Tbsp Buttermilk
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
  • 8 oz Cream Cheese, Softened
  • 3 Cups Powdered Sugar
  • 1 tsp Vanilla
  • Splash of Milk if Needed
Instructions
Make the Cupcakes
  1. Preheat the oven to 325°
  2. Line a muffin pan with cupcake wrappers. This recipe will make at least 12 cupcakes.
  3. Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix to combine.
  4. Fill wells of the cupcake pan ¾ of the way full and cook for about 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
  5. Remove cupcakes from the pan and allow them to cool completely on a cooking rack.
Make the Frosting
  1. Beat cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer until smooth
  2. Slowly add powdered sugar ⅓ at a time until it’s all mixed in
  3. Add vanilla and a splash of milk if the frosting is too stiff.
  4. Once the cupcakes are cooled, put the frosting in a large zip-top bag and cut off the bottom corner to make a quick pastry bag. Swirl the frosting on the cupcakes and enjoy!
Tips and TricksTips and Tricks

To make frosting the cupcakes easier, wait until they have cooled down. Use a cake decorating bag or make your own using a Ziplock bag. Put the frosting in the bag and cut off the corner. Frost away!

Feed the FreezerFeed the Freezer

Cupcakes – and any cake for that matter – do great in the freezer!  Just bag them and put them in the freezer unfrosted for up to 3 months.  When you’re ready for cupcakes, take out of the freezer to thaw, whip up a batch of frosting and swirl away!

Fun FactsFun Facts
  • Cupcakes are over 200 years old.
  • 13% of wedding receptions now use cupcakes instead of traditional wedding cakes.