I often forget about cream cheese until I need it: A forlorn, toasted bagel begs for some schmear. A craving for cheesecake hits—and hits hard. A last-minute party demands a savory, creamy dip. Or it's someone's birthday who loves carrot cake (which, in my experience, actually means that they love cream cheese frosting). It's then that I search my fridge for the telltale foil-wrapped bricks, building blocks for any tangy, rich dish worth its salt (or sugar).
Recently, however, as I was putting cream cheese on the shopping list, I started wondering: what exactly is cream cheese, anyway? Is it cheese? How is cream involved? And why is it so dang delicious? So I decided to investigate—and rounded up a few (okay, 34) of my favorite ways to use cream cheese (both sweet and savory), in the process.
Cream cheese is a soft, mild-tasting fresh cheese made from cow's milk, meaning it's unaged. To produce it, lactic acid bacteria is added to cream, causing the pH of the cream to decrease, driving the fat away from the liquid—in short, curdling it. At this point the mixture is heated, stabilizers (such as carob bean gum and carrageenan) added, and voila—you've got cream cheese.
Cream cheese is similar to Neufchâtel, a fresh French cheese also made of cow's milk, typically sold in the shape of a heart (aw). The main difference lies in the fat content: cream cheese traditionally contains cream, and thus has a higher fat content than its French counterpart, which is made only with milk. While they are quite similar in flavor, don't sub in Neufchâtel for cream cheese willy-nilly; the differing fat contents could cause some discrepancies.
Today, cream cheese is one of America's most widely-consumed cheeses—probably because its mild flavor means it's used in a myriad of sweet and savory applications. While most of us will pick up foil-wrapped blocks to use in spiced cheesecakes, creamy, savory dips, or to just to spread on toasted bagels, ambitious burgeoning cheesemakers may try to make their own. Regardless, now that you know what it is, use cream cheese to give a tangy richness to these 18 recipes—both sweet and savory.
1. Creamy Easy Cheesecake Cupcakes
No, not cake...cupcakes! These easy, individual cupcakes are a sweet twist on a classic cheesecake recipe. You’ll still find the buttery graham cracker crust and rich filling but with significantly less work for you.
2. New York Cheesecake With Sour Cherry Topping
Now that we’ve had our fun with a version of mini cheesecake, it’s time to get into the real deal. When you picture the perfect cheesecake, we bet it looks something like this--a sweetened cheesy top poured into a classic graham cracker crust.
3. Violette's Spinach Fillo
Cream cheese is often associated with two things: a sweet dessert or the ultimate bagel topping. But it has so many uses beyond those, especially when it comes to savory culinary applications. Here, it’s mixed with shredded Swiss cheese and chopped spinach for a French-style fillo.
4. Gran's Gifted Cheesecake
This cheesecake may not look much different on the outside, but it’s got just a little extra pizzazz to make it super special. A sprinkle of cinnamon and a touch of almond extract make the flavor of this cheesecake stand out.
5. Carrot Cake with Cardamom
Carrot cake without cream cheese frosting is like rain on the 4th of July. Kind of ruins the fun, right? Fear not! This perfectly spiced carrot cake is topped with the sweetest (but not too sweet) cream cheese frosting.
6. Lemony Cream Cheese Pancakes with Blueberries
Make batter better by adding cream cheese. Don’t believe us? Then maybe you should listen to our thousands of readers, who voted this their favorite pancake recipe of all time.
7. Cream Cheese Omelet With Everything Seasoning
An ounce of cream cheese is sprinkled into a classic three-egg omelet for a little extra creaminess that is sure to perk up your morning.
8. Meyer Lemon Cheesecake with Biscoff Crust
A couple of easy ingredient swaps—Biscoff cookies for graham crackers and sweet, aromatic Meyer lemons—make this cheesecake recipe the one of the best you’ll ever try.
9. Bagel and Cream Cheese Strata
Inspired by the classic breakfast treat of bagels and a schmear of cream cheese, this all-American casserole calls for cubed stale bagels. They’re then layered with custard, thinly sliced lox, capers, chopped dill, and cubed cream cheese.
10. Butternut Squash & Spice Cheesecake
Come fall, we’re all about spiced flavors. Frankly, we’re all about spiced flavors before the leaves even change, but you get the idea. We’ve dressed up a cream cheese filling with a trio of warming spices—ground cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom—for the season.
11. Pomegranate + Lox Toast
This is the prettiest toast we’ve ever seen. Rye bread is topped with cream cheese, soft-boiled eggs, good-quality smoked salmon, pomegranate seeds, cucumber slices, a sprig of dill, and red onion.
12. Slab Shortcake with Roasted Rhubarb
A fun and creative twist on strawberry shortcakes, this slab pie has a buttery biscuit base and juicy rhubarb topping.
13. Jalapeño Cornbread
Your grandmother may scoff at the inclusion of cream cheese in our skillet cornbread, but believe us when we say it makes it so much better.
14. No-Bake Pistachio Mini Cheesecakes
Whether you’re hosting a dinner party or attending one as a guest, wow the crowd with these no-fuss, no-bake mini cheesecakes.
15. Chrissy Teigen's Everything Bagel Cream Cheese Breakfast Bake
For the ultimate savory breakfast bake, combine stale day-old everything bagels, tomatoes, a trio of cheeses, breakfast sausage, Dijon mustard, and a big ole block of cream cheese.
16. No-Bake Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Skip the fussy water bath and complicated cooking process in favor of these no-bake cheesecake bars that are perfect for autumn.
17. Cream Cheese Banana Bread
Recipe developer Posie (Harwood) Brian found that the secret to moister-than-ever banana bread is four ounces of softened cream cheese.
18. Herby Chicken Burgers With Whipped Feta
Just a touch of cream cheese is incorporated with feta cheese and heavy whipping cream for a tangy secret sauce that upgrades burgers for dinner.
19. Buko Salad (Filipino Fruit Salad)
This is no ordinary fruit salad. It’s a genius way to dress up canned fruit cocktail, canned pineapple chunks, and shredded coconut. Mix it with cream cheese and sweetened condensed milk for a creamy spread.
20. Cookies n' Cream Scones
Store-bought shortbread cookies are ground into crumbs and mixed into this cookie dough, along with Oreo cookies and cream cheese, for a sugary sweet breakfast treat.
21. Cream Cheese Fruit Dip
“I don't think I'd be wrong in declaring that cream cheese makes everything more desirable. Whipped into an ethereally airy mass, sweetened lightly, and served alongside skewered fruit for dipping—I’m not sure there exists a most perfect, fun dessert out there,” writes recipe developer Renae E. Wilson.
22. Guava Cream Cheese Rugelach
Guava paste and cream cheese gives these rich rugelach a tropical spin that will make you immediately want to take a trip to the islands after your first bite.
23. Port Wine & Cheese Spread
Put together a wine and cheese tasting in the form of a crowd-friendly dip. Whip together shredded yellow cheese, cream cheese, Dijon mustard, port wine, toasted walnuts, a handful of herbs, and a little bit of butter for this cream cheese recipe.
24. Blue Cheese & Cherry Crostatas
“A whole-wheat, cream cheese–based dough pulls together this sweet-and-savory combo: funky blue cheese and whatever fruit catches your eye,” writes recipe developer and food editor Emma Laperruque.
25. Apple and Olive Oil Cake with Maple Icing
We could talk for days about the olive oil cake alone, but today we’re here to focus on the maple cream cheese frosting, which gets a little extra sweetness from muscovado sugar.
26. Northwest Smoked Salmon Chowder
Our secret to ultra-creamy chowder? A few ounces of cream cheese (four to be exact), of course!
27. Rich Lemon Cake with Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
Two kinds of citrus—the juice and zest of both lemons and limes—are incorporated into the batter and frosting for this tropical cake. Don’t worry...the recipe calls for plenty of dark rum too.
28. New-School French Onion Dip
A traditional (aka old-school) onion dip usually calls for just sour cream, or just crème fraîché, but this combines sour cream and cream cheese for an absolutely fabulous twist on the classic party starter.
29. Cream Cheese Cookies
Cream cheese not only gives these four-ingredient cookies a little bit of tang, but it also makes them extra-chewy, extra-moist, and extra-delicious.
30. Cheesy Potato and Bacon "Brown Betty"
“A savory version of the classic apple dessert, Brown Betty, this recipe subs potatoes for apples—you’re gonna love it,” writes recipe developer Greg Henry.
31. The Perfect Cheese Ball
The perfect cheese ball doesn’t exist...oh wait, now it does! Cream cheese is mixed with prepared horseradish, three kinds of cheese, a trio of herbs, and a splash of vinegar. It’s the ultimate make-ahead appetizer for entertaining.
32. King Cake With Cream Cheese Dough
Celebrate Mardi Gras with our literal twist on a classic King Cake, which has cream cheese in both the dough and the confectioners’ sugar icing on top.
33. Lemon Bar Cheesecake
This dessert isn’t lemon bars nor is it cheesecake bars. It’s a cheesecake inspired by lemon bars! A combination of prepared lemon card and fresh lemon zest make each bite taste like pure sunshine.
34. Silver Palate's Thanksgiving Potatoes
Make your Thanksgiving feast better than ever this year with these silky mashed potatoes, which have three kinds of dairy: cream cheese, sour cream, and unsalted butter.
Written by: Catherine Lamb
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8 Comments
Another great use for cream cheese is -- hold on -- mixed with butter and aromatics, either in the form of a traditional liptauer or this riff, what we call "anchovy cheese": https://food52.com/recipes/8098-anchovy-cheese ;o)
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