Sun-Dried Tomato and Pesto Cheese Spread

SUBMITTED BY: Carol A. PHOTO BY: Nuttylicious

"This is an incredible cheese spread. With the red of the sun-dried tomatoes and the green of the pesto, it makes for a beautiful Christmas appetizer. Garnish with toasted pine nuts and sprigs of basil. Serve with crackers."

PREP TIME	45 Min
READY IN	8 Hrs 45 Min

SERVINGS & SCALING

Original recipe yield: 6.5 cups

USMETRIC

About scaling and conversions

INGREDIENTS

4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 2/3 cups softened cream cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 1/3 cups sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil, drained
1/3 cup tomato paste
3/4 cup butter
salt and pepper to taste

READ REVIEWS (23)

DIRECTIONS

Chop the garlic in a food processor. Mix in basil, lemon juice, pine nuts and olive oil. Process until well blended. Mix in 1/3 cup cream cheese and Parmesan cheese. Blend using pulse setting until almost smooth. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl.
Coarsely chop sun-dried tomatoes in the food processor. Mix in tomato paste and 1/3 cup cream cheese. Blend until smooth.
Place 2 cups cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until fluffy. Season with salt and pepper.
Lightly grease a 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Line dish with plastic wrap so that the wrap extends over sides of the dish.
Evenly spread 3/4 cup cream cheese and butter mixture in the prepared dish. Layer alternately with 1/2 the sun-dried tomato mixture, 1/2 cup cream cheese and butter mixture and 1/2 the pesto mixture. Repeat layering, topping with remaining cream cheese and butter mixture. Cover and chill in the refrigerator 8 hours, or overnight.
Carefully invert dish onto a platter and remove plastic to serve.

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REVIEWS

MORE MEMBER REVIEWS

Reviewed on Dec. 16, 2005 by rudechack

Although I did not get to try this myself, everyone raved about it at my party. I served it with an assortment of crackers and people kept asking me for the recipe. It's a nice mix of flavors. To save time and energy, I didn't do multiple layers of each thing - I only did one of each, so there were 3 layers in total. I put the dip right onto a charger - white on bottom, red in the middle, green on top. It eliminated the need for the baking dish/plastic wrap thing, which sounded like it could have been a disaster. I also didn't have time to let it sit for a while before serving, but it certainly didn't deter my guests. This was gone by the end of the night. It looked nice too.

16 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Dec. 8, 2005 by D.Nicely

This was very good. Instead of layering in a baking dish, I choose to split the recipe and layer in bowls to give an "ornament" look. I then "decorated" the ornament with extra Pesto spread and added a Pesto "hook". It was very attractive and yummy!

15 users found this review helpful

Reviewed on Jan. 2, 2005 by Jenni

This is so good, the first time I made it I was asked to make it again for the next get together. I have tried making it with store bought pesto and sun dried tomato spread and it wasn't quite as good or quite as attractive.

15 users found this review helpful

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