Roasted Cherry Cream Cheese Spread
Roasted Cherry Cream Cheese: 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.
Roasted Cherry Cream Cheese Spread
Jump to RecipeSometimes 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
- Serves:
- Serves 6
- Prep Time:
- Total Time:
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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
Instructions
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.
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.
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.
Meanwhile, stir together the softened cream cheese with the lemon zest and honey. These are classic flavors and everything works really well together.
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!
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!
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Read MoreHello! My name is Nick Evans and I write and manage Macheesmo. I started Macheesmo 11 years ago when I was just learning my way around the kitchen. I love to cook and love everything food-related, but I have no formal training. These days I focus on fast, accessible recipes with the occasional “reach” recipe!
I’ve posted almost 2,000 recipes on Macheesmo. For each one, I do my best to give full explanations of what I did and tips on what I’d do differently next time. I’ll bring up the tricky parts and the easy parts.
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This looks super tasty! One of my favorite bagel/spread combinations from a place we used to live by in Chicago was salt and poppy bagel with Parmesan artichoke cream cheese. I’ve been missing it ever since the place closed. I’ll have to try to make it someday!
This recipe is GENIUS! I was obsessed with strawberry cream cheese when I was younger, but this roasted cherry cream cheese takes it up a notch! LOVE!!
Thanks Bethany! So glad you liked it! :)
This recipe is amazing!!
Delicious and very easy to put together!!
I made extra, and am going to give some as gifts, along with some bagels!!
Thank you for your wonderful recipe!
Ingrid
Everyone loves cheese spread, and this looks recipe looks great. Cherries are delicious and possess a distinct flavor. I can’t wait to try it.
Wow, sounds amazing !! Since Cherry season is over, I wonder how frozen cherries would work ?
Hmm… You can’t really roast frozen cherries since they are already quick cooked. I think only fresh will work for this recipe. :(