Recipe of the week
Cheese & fruit logs
Treat your friends and colleagues with this hard-to-resist, makeahead, savoury morning tea offering.
This recipe makes quite a soft mixture so don’t use fat-reduced cream cheese or you’ll end up with a spread rather than a log. The quickest way to soften cream cheese is to zap it in its container (don’t forget to remove the foil first) in the microwave for 15-20 seconds.
❚ 250g cream cheese, softened
❚ 150g sour cream
❚ 1⁄2 cup sweet corn relish or similar
❚ 1 cup grated tasty cheese
❚ 1⁄2 cup diced dried apricots
❚ 1⁄4 cup diced crystallised ginger
❚ 1⁄2 cup dried cranberries
❚ 1 spring onion, finely sliced
❚ 1⁄4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
Place cream cheese, sour cream and relish in a food processor and pulse until smooth.
Add grated cheese and then pulse to combine.
Transfer mixture to a large bowl and stir in apricots, ginger, cranberries and spring onion.
Shape mixture into 1-2 logs and wrap firmly in plastic wrap (if mixture is too soft to handle, chill it a little first, or turn it out on to the plastic wrap and use it to help you shape the logs as you wrap them).
Chill for at least an hour. Once cold, unwrap logs and sprinkle with toasted almonds.
Serve on a platter with plain crackers.
Makes about 2 cups or 2 medium logs.
To make ahead: These logs will keep for at least 3-4 days in the fridge.