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! 😂
What I love.. the new layout just flows more. I love all of your recipes that I’ve tried so I’m looking forward to browsing through your new site to see more hidden treasures. Also, it’s so lovely seeing your smiling face!! Merry Christmas x
Love all the recipes, easy to follow. Tried the Italian Cheese Loaf with Vegan ingredients, just as good. Look forward to more exciting and fabulous dishes.
Loving the new design! Uncluttered and straightforward, same way I like my recipes!
Loving the new design! Uncluttered and straightforward, the same way I like my recipes!
I love your new website. I always look forward to getting your recipes and greatly appreciate the recipe notes.
I love the new website. I always look forward to getting your recipes and greatly appreciate the recipe notes!
Love the website. Easy to navigate and easy on the eye. Have not tried this recipe yet but have added it to my recipe album. Thanks for making my kitchen my best friend.
Loving the new layout of your website
Love the new site, very easy to navigate.
Keep your comment short and sweet you said so: Yum and Great😀
This recipe is absolutely festive looking! Perfect for the holiday table! I can’t wait to try it! The new website is great!
I love your photos and videos Nagi!
Hello! I like the new Website, it´s a nice design, but i have to admit I really got used to the old one, so it will take me some time to get used to the new look 😀
Thank you for all of your great recipes! 🙂
Greetings from Austria!
Love your new website. Viewing this on my phone. Page seems to load faster. Navigation works smoother. I like the bigger font. It’s easier to read.
This is my type of appetizer! Love it.
The site looks amazing Nagi, very modern. I still have to adjust to bold and thick fonts, but I guess it’s what’s coming. Happy holidays!
Hi Nagi. What a beautiful new blog, but I’ll have to get used to it, because I really liked the old one! Just check the bottom, the related sites, it says food bloggers center and not central. This is nothing, but I thought you had changed the name of that blog. Congrats on your great work!
Love the new website, it looks very crisp and clear. Also love the idea of this recipe, but only some ingredients have the metric equivalent which is what we use in the UK. I have noticed some other websites have an option to click on Aus. cups, or Metric, and wondered if you had considered incorporating that, or updating all recipes to include metric measurements. I use your recipes constantly and love them all!
I really liked your old website so I’ll be mourning the loss of the familiar for a while – I practically live at RecipeTinEats. BUT your new site has a great navigation system- I am even prepared to say better than the old.
And I look forward to trying this recipe for Christmas 😋
Wow – this looks amazing! I look forward to trying it. I like your new website. Your recipes are so good – thank you!
Brings new plate of appetizer this Christmass indeed. Gave me something to make this Christmas for the family aside from the common Filipino dishes. I love cooking so thank you for this recipe. Got something to try again. Love the new website.
Happy hollidays!
Greetings from the Philippines.
Hi Nagi, love the new website! It’s easy to navigate and great layout. I LOVE the page on Dozer!