Scallion Cream Cheese, Bagel Shop Style

Name: Scallion Cream Cheese, Bagel Shop Style
Total time: 10 min
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
Cuisine: jewish
Ingredients: 1 pound cream cheese, preferably without additives or fillers, such as Ben’s or Gina Marie; 1/2 to 3/4 cup heavy cream; 2 tablespoons freshly chopped scallions or chives

Recipe from Baz Bagel &amp

Adapted by Julia Moskin

Total Time: 10 minutes
Rating: 4(98)
Comments: Read comments

This recipe for a loftier version of cream cheese is also a formula for any number of dips and spreads. Instead of scallions, you might add horseradish, sriracha, toasted walnuts, blue cheese crumbles, maple syrup or honey. When shopping for cream cheese, choose one with the shortest list of ingredients; anything besides cream, milk, and salt is a filler or a preservative. But even if you start with less-than-perfect cream cheese from the supermarket, whipping it in a stand mixer and adding heavy cream to loosen the mixture will produce a smooth, fluffy spread. Sour cream would work just as well as heavy cream. It's best to make this just before serving — at Baz Bagel & Restaurant in Little Italy, they make it three times a day to preserve the fresh taste — but it also lasts well in the refrigerator. —Julia Moskin

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Ingredients

Yield:6 to 8 servings

1pound cream cheese, preferably without additives or fillers, such as Ben’s or Gina Marie
½ to ¾cup heavy cream
2tablespoons freshly chopped scallions or chives

Ingredient Substitution Guide

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Preparation

Step 1
Place cream cheese in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix at low speed until smooth. Pour in ½ cup heavy cream and raise the speed to medium-low. Mix until whipped and fluffy, adding more cream if needed to loosen the mixture.
Step 2
At low speed, fold in scallions just until combined. Scrape into a serving bowl and keep refrigerated until ready to serve. (Can be made up to 1 day ahead.)

Ratings

4 out of 5

98 user ratings

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Comments

jessie m.5 years ago

Getting the cream cheese to room temperature first helped do my mixing. I needed less cream and still got the texture I wanted. I used closer to a 1/3 cup or so of scallions. 2 TB seemed a little too tame. I wanted to see the scallions in there! Final product was fine for more than a few days in the fridge, I thought the extra time helped the flavors permeate.

BigGuy3 years ago

Most bagel shops use evaporated milk, not heavy cream, for flavored cream cheeses. It's cheaper and much easier to work with than heavy cream.

Outstanding5 years ago

This was fantastic, definitely saw no deterioration in flavor or texture over the course of the week so feel free to make this ahead as it keeps perfectly!

Fey E.11 months ago

I mix a little seltzer or club soda with Gina Marie’s cream cheese, and it is divine!

Tom Gratzer -- a New Yorker at heart who has lived in Boston for the past 37 years.11 months ago

In preparing the scallion cream cheese, I like to add a couple of shakes of Goya Adobo as well as a couple of garlic powder. Additionally, a couple swigs of Worcestershire sauce adds a nice depth of flavor, and a judicious amount of cayenne powder adds a bit of heat. Finally, in preparing the bagel, a ripe sliced Roma tomato on top of the scallion cream cheese is obligatory. Peace.

Nercon52 years ago

I’d say use the whole bunch of scallions! The heavy cream is unnecessary, room temp is unnecessary, but hc does give it a buttery quality. I like to eat this on everything bagel, with a smodge of apricot preserves to garnish, like a filthy little piggy

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