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! 😂
I can’t wair to make this for Xmas day! So colourful and will be so flavourful, just rather sort of food I love.
your new website is more clear easy to understand. Most of my meal follow your recipe
Hi Nagi! Merry Christmas 🙂 I like the new website but miss the colour in the previous one. This cheese log looks great & so easy! I don’t do dairy but my family will love it 🙂 Dozer looks so content! Bless you both
This looks absolutely fabulous! I think I would likely stay out civilized and move onto annialating once I began tasting. I think you have something totally versatile here, a recipe that lends itself to many cultures, many flavors. This iid a very exciting dish! Thank you Nagi for sharing with us!
Loving the new website look Nagi!
Congratulations on the new website Nagi, it’s easy navigate & visually appealing. I’m especially impressed with the new format for the recipes. The dark, clear font & numbered steps is a bonus when following the recipe. I love Dozer almost as much as I love your recipes, his button was my first stop on your new site. Wishing you every success and a fun Christmas 🎄
Hi Nagi: I absolutely love your recipes and the Italian Cheese Log looks like a brilliant idea to try at Christmas – THANK YOU! I know it will be a hit with this British Canadian family who delight in flavours that are well outside the British norm.
I love the new website by the way. It is visually appealing and completely fits with what I have come to understand is your personality, Kudos to you and your designer(s) !!
Hi Nagi, love the new website design, it looks updated and fresh and it’s great that the photos of the beautiful food are front and centre!
(NB, not sure why ‘website’ is a required field when leaving a comment – I don’t have a website so I just entered yours!)
Love the new website Nagi!
I can’t wait to make this for a work party. The site looks amazing!
3💙:
1)The 3 buttons “Recipe, Video,Dozer” makes it so easy to zoom right in!
2)When searching for recipes, I could click ‘Only Quick & Easy’, this definitely saves time!
3)When browsing for ideas, the 2-column condensed picture makes it a breeze to see & be tempted
I was introduced to your website about 1 month ago and I must say I’m following you! First recipe I did was honey garlic chicken breast & it was so good & easy! Gives me confidence in making juicy breast meat! Subsequent cook & bake turns out good too! Thanks to you & my friend too! Dozer makes me smile too at the end😉
Hi Nagi, loving the new website design and recipe search. You are one of my fave bloggers because:
1) you are based in Aus, so you use ingredients that are easy to find here and you call them by their Aussie name (I’m still trying to work out whether American tomato sauce is like our passata or not!).
2) your photos are beautiful and mouth-watering.
3) every recipe of yours that I’ve tried has tasted delicious and worked well (your extra notes are so useful!). I recently stocked my freezer with your slow cooker pork carnitas and it is so so good!
I love your new site, it is pretty as the other one was,
keep up the good work
I like the new website, and I liked the old one! Cobb loaf dips seem very “in” at the moment, and your italian cheese log sounds like a yummy cheesy appetiser with much more sophisticated flavours. Cant wait to try!
Fabulous new website Nagi, congratulations! Even the notes section (which is so helpful) is better! Love it!
this recipe looks amazing will look great on my table the web page looks great so bright and colourful awesome job 🙂
New website is AMAZING… just waiting on an APP now 🙏😉
I like the new recipe collections, found a few new things I’m going to try for Christmas in the Party Food section!! 👍
Love it! The updated site makes it even more fun to browse recipes and share with friends. It’s beautiful. And fast!!
This recipe sounds/looks delicious will have to try it for Christmas or New Years. Also loving the new look to the website!
Another fantastic and delicious dish, the new website really showcases how many recipes you have shared!