Roasted Cherry Cream Cheese Spread

Sometimes Betsy and I go through a carb phase for breakfast where we eat a lot of bagels and toast instead of our normal oatmeal or scrambled eggs. I’m a bagel lover, but not a bagel snob if that makes sense.

I do get bored with the standard spreads though. These days I’ll take butter over plain cream cheese and I find most store-bought flavored cream cheese to be a bit lackluster. When I get into one of these bagel phases, you’ll usually see a new cream cheese spread on Macheesmo. Case in point: This Caramelized Onion Cream Cheese or my Roasted Jalapeno and Cheddar Cream Cheese.

This time of year you should start seeing ripe cherries pop up in markets and stores and they usually come in big bags. I figured it might be good to roast some of these to intensify their flavor and then fold them into a cream cheese with lemon zest and honey.

This roasted cherry cream cheese spread is the result and it’s definitely something you won’t find in the store but is really easy to make! Just a few ingredients!

Roasted Cherry Cream Cheese

Just a moment please...

Yield

Serves 6.

Prep Time

5 mins

Total Time

30 mins

Not a bagel topper you can buy in the store, but a perfect one to make at home when delicious ripe cherries are in season.

Ingredients

2 cups fresh cherries

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon honey

1 lemon, zest only

Pinch of salt

Bagels

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Directions

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Wash cherries well and spread out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with a small pinch of kosher salt.

2) Roast cherries for 20 minutes until bursting. Remove and let cool.

3) Mix together softened cream cheese, lemon zest, and honey.

4) Chop cherries in half when cool, removing pits. Fold cherries into the cream cheese mixture. Serve over toasted bagels.

Leftover spread will keep great in the fridge for 5-7 days.

Roasted Cherry Cream Cheese

This recipe starts with cherries. Lots of them. I recommend just roasting them whole. They will be easier to pit and clean after they soften from roasting.

Freshness.

Wash them well and spread them out in an even layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle these beauties with a little salt. It kind of helps the flavors pop. You could also add a pinch of sugar if you wanted it sweeter but I thought the cherries were plenty sweet on their own.

Ready to roast.

Roast these guys at 400 degrees F. for about 20 minutes until they are bursting. You want them to still be juicy and not completely broken down though. Don’t roast them into mush.

Easy to remove pits now!

Meanwhile, stir together the softened cream cheese with the lemon zest and honey. These are classic flavors and everything works really well together.

The base.

Once your cherries have cooled a bit, remove the stems and slice them in half. The pits should pop right out without too much trouble.

Then just gently fold the cherries into the cream cheese!

Boom!

Toast a bagel up and add a good healthy schmear of this stuff to both sides. It’s so delicious, easy to make, but still unique!

The spread keeps great in the fridge for a week or so or you could freeze it for longer storage, but probably not necessary if you are in a bagel phase like I am!

Happy weekend everyone! Get your schmear on!