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 like your site changes, Nagi! Layout is better organized, search works well, pics still outstanding. Your photography is wonderful, both still and video. (I love your “watch me make it” videos–they are always very satisfying to watch, also well-shot and right to the point.) Suffice to say, I will continue to check out your site (and make your recipes) on the regular! 🙂
Love the new design! Can’t wait to make this recipe.
I like the new website very much. Seems to be better organized and individual recipes are easier to follow. Gorgeous pics too! I especially appreciate the Asian recipes
The website looks great, Nagi! Thanks for all the hard work you put into every detail of your recipes and this site. I have planned my whole Christmas Day menu from your website alone! If you ever have a spare moment one day, I would love a dietary category for ‘dairy free’ as my daughter now can’t eat any dairy, but I love the site!
The Cheese Log will be really good for Christmas when friends pop in for some cheer!!
Your new site is fun to navigate and easy to locate the recipe one wants.
Love the special Dozer section – can just go there and feast my eyes on him. He is a lovely boy!!
Have a happy Christmas with lots of cheer! 🎉🎄
Love the new look website. Keep up the great work. My absolute go to blog for great recipes. 😊
I love the new website! So much easier to find what i’m looking for and i found new ones! You are one of my go-tos and we’ve loved every dish we’ve tried. 🙂
Fantastic website. Easy to navigate and most importantly logical which a lot are not. Will make my searches much easier. Thank you.
Website looks great, easy to find recipes. Couple of suggestions when viewing in landscape on ipad theres no left margin and grey font you use as part of recipe hard for me to read compared to black
I love the new website! It’s so inviting and wonderfully easy to explore. I have made many of your recipes and all have turned out delicious. You are my go-to site. And special kudos on the Dozer section.
Absolutely love the new site. I definitely have a soft spot for your old site but this new fangled one is so slick.
Love the new website, especially all the new categories, makes it so much easier to find the perfect Nagi recipe…I have already stumbled across recipes I hadn’t seen on your site before. Great work!
Fabulous new website. Didn’t find anything wrong with the old one, but change is good!
I loved your recipes, I had done so many, that I feel so proud of myself, thank you 😊 so much for your recipes
Love the new site. Love the cheese log. Love Dozzer.
I’ve made a similar appetizer for Christmas for decades, with layers of cream cheese, sundried tomatoes, and pesto. So good. But this looks simply decadent! Gorgeous presentation too.
As for the “remodeled” website, it’s even more gorgeous!! I love the new look and so easy to navigate. Excellent work, Nagi!
I like the new site and yummy recipes!
Hi Nagi,
The new look is great! Easy, clear, with my favourite colours.
I found your website just a couple months ago but already tried some recipes which were delicious, I must say.
And Dozer…very handsome fella 😃 I have a German Shepard, so can relate to some situations.
Keep up with good work!
Merry Christmas and greetings from Calgary, AB
Really like the new site. Easy to navigate and search.
This version of the traditional log looks modern and worth a try, looks even better than the food channels chefs.