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
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
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! 😂
Love it, pictures are so clear, easy to navigate.
Love, love, love your new website! Everything looks so fresh and bright! Although I subscribe to several food blogs, your food blog is the #1 food blog that I eagerly look forward to. Your recipes are so clear and concise and easy to follow, and you outline each step precisely so that there is no margin for error. And that makes the perfectionist in me extremely happy! Keep on doing what you’re doing — you’re making the world better one recipe at a time!
P.S.: Love the pics and quips of Dozer. He’s such a special dog!
Love you Nagi you have changed my cooking life xx
love your newweb site love your tasty easy recipes and love dozer you make cooking sound like fun
Love the new website, easy to navigate and looks cool. The popups are a tad annoying but a small detail to what is an awesome page.
Great new website! I love the color scheme. I particularly like the box you can click to sort recipes by “quick and easy” recipes. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas Nagi! Love the new refreshing look of your revamped site! And this cheese platter looks amazing! might give it a try this christmas!
I love the new website Nagi!! Much easier to navigate. And I will definitely try the cheese log for Christmas Day! Merry Christmas 🎄 🎅🏼
Still love everything about your layout. Everything is clear and easy to understand. It’s easy to share with the icons and I love printing so I love having that option too! Love the step by step photos and videos because instructions can be interrupted differently so even though you might cook the same recipe as someone else you get a totally different outcome. Have the step by step photos and videos keeps the recipe on trade and everything I have cooked from this amazing website turns out the same as the photos and the same as when my mum makes it. I love the blog/story about each recipe talking about how and where you can use it and different creative flexible ways to change it which makes it perfect for everyone. And best of all the page is finished off with an always cute photo of Dozer! It’s a touch of fun and cuteness to finish off your page. I only have one criticism which I was hoping could be changed…. when I change the serving size (which is another amazing/handy feature of your recipe) I find it hard to convert for example 0.13 cup parsley? Could this be changed to grams or mls for liquids? I often change serving sizes and do my best to calculate quantities. Everything I have cooked always turns out delicious even if I might not get exact quantities correct. Overall you should be very proud and pleased with the great new look. It is sophisticated with the blue colour scheme and clear and just outstanding. Thank you for sharing all your kitchen knowledge it is appreciated.
Hi Nagi, your new website is much much better, because it has so much more to offer besides today’s recipe. It gives reader more recipe options to consider by just reading today’s posting.
It’s well structured, organized, its visual presentation is so read-friendly (font type, font size, positioning) and fits reading from my mobile.
I love your recipes as they each have very detailed instructions and tips to help readers create risk proof recipes.
Thank you, Nagi!
Love this recipe. Wanting to try for christmas w/family.
I love the new look of the website so bright and lively! Merry Christmas & happy new year.
I have never commented on anything but I have to tell you Nagi, I use your recipes all the time! This Christmas cheese log looks good and I am going to try it out.
For a busy working mum like me looking for daily recipes to cook for my family the new look website is much more user friendly and easy to use. Good job !
Love your new website!!! 😍😍😍
Fabulous recipe! I really like the way the recent recipes are all there together and the easy classifications on the new website. At first glance it’s really easy to use and I’m looking forward to exploring it later.
New web site is a feast for the eyes,Pictures,colours. This appetizer looks so delicious This will be on my Christmas Eve table.Have a wonderful holidays
Happy Holidays!
Love your new website!……You deserve it! Although I loved the old website this one is fabulous!
This will be making an appearance on our Xmas lunch table! Yum! Will try swapping the olives for or artichokes. New website is fabulous, even easier to search through all the recipes 👍
Looking forward to trying this cheese log with other add ins too (but maybe even my husband will give olives a go in this recipe!))
The new website works for me…easy to access and exposes more yummy recipes 👍