Do you like a bagel toasted and then topped with a flavorful smear? Easy cream cheese spread recipes mean you can make your own at home like this fig walnut cream cheese. Spreadable cream cheese isn’t just for bagels—we’ve got more ideas below to use this tasty fig walnut spread.
Breakfast Ideas for Fig Walnut Cream Cheese
Mix up the fig walnut spread and then swap it in as the filling for flaky breakfast pastries with a peek-a-boo window tiled with fig slices. If you like cheese danishes, this recipe is for you.
Dutch babies are like a giant pancake that puffs up in the oven to be served in slices, topped with fruit. Try the fig walnut spread as a condiment crumbled on top with juicy pears.
Or, bring on the blintzes and fill lemony slender pancakes with the fig walnut spread for a switch-up at breakfast.
Try dolloping the fig walnut spread into quickbread batter—it will bake up into delicious pockets of figgy cream cheese goodness.
Spreadable Cream Cheese at Dessert
Swap in the fig walnut spread for the plain cream cheese in this Sour Cream Coffee Cake. It’s a sweet treat perfect for brunch and beyond. Get the coffee cake recipe.
Instead of Greek yogurt, try the fig walnut spread as part of the frosting for Walnut Cake with Figs. This cake is great for snacks or groups. Give it a try here.
Ways to Incorporate the Spread at Dinner
Here’s a twist to try for chicken night: stuffed chicken. Pound chicken breasts until thin. Fill them on one end with the fig cream cheese spread (recipe for the figs and cream cheese appetizers below). Then, roll them up. You’ll brush the rest of the fig cream cheese on the outside of the chicken before covering them with breadcrumbs. Get the recipe (and see step-by-step photos here).
Use the fig walnut cream cheese spread as the base for a pasta sauce, thinning it with a splash or two of pasta water until it coats the back of the noodles, and then seasoning to taste.
Cream Cheese, California Fig, and Walnut Spread
Ingredients
- 6 Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid Golden California Figs stems trimmed, quartered
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1/4 cup walnuts chopped
- 1/2 tsp salt kosher
- 2 tbsp green scallion tops optional, thinly sliced
Instructions
- Finely chop the figs in a food processor. Add the cream cheese and process until combined. Add the walnuts and salt; pulse just to blend. Scrape into a bowl. Add the scallions, if desired.
- Serve the spread on crisped endive leaves, celery boats, crackers, apple or pear slices, or toast, or use it as a sandwich spread.
- Cream Cheese, Dried Fig, and Walnut Spread with Smoked Salmon: Add 1/4 cup diced smoked salmon (about 2 ounces) to the food processor along with the walnuts and salt.