Smoked Cream Cheese with Charred Olives will be your new favorite fall appetizer.

I use my Smokin’ Tex electric smoker to smoke the cream cheese.

I put a pan with the cheese on the Smoking’ Tex cold smoke tray, and then put a pan of ice underneath underneath the tray.

This keeps these cheese from getting too hot and melting.

I smoke the cheese with a few pieces of cherry wood for 20 minutes at 175 degrees, then turn the smoker off and let the cheese sit in the smoker an additional two hours.

Give it two hours and you’ve got the base for your charred olive relish ready to go.

P.S. When I smoke cream cheese, I do a big batch. It keeps for weeks in the fridge until ready to use.

Substitute the smoked cream cheese in any savory recipe that calls for regular cream cheese.

Smoked Cream Cheese with Charred Olives

Recipe by Jennifer Williams

• Total Time2 hours 50 minutes
• Yield6 servings 1x

Smoked Cream Cheese is divine.  Top the cheese with charred olives and you have next level umami.

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 4 reviews

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Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 8 ounce block cream cheese
• 3/4 teaspoon barbecue rub (just use your favorite, I have one I make, but its not on the blog yet.)
• 2 cups olives (I use a mix of pitted olive mix and Sicilian marinated olives from my grocery gourmet cheese section).  Use any olives you like, but I would not recommend using any olives with filling in the center, including pimento.
• 1/4 cup chopped purple onion
• 10–12 roasted garlic cloves (you can pick these up in your grocery store deli if you don’t want to make it.)
• juice of one lemon
• 1/4 cup olive oil

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Instructions

1. Place a the block of cream cheese in a smoker safe skillet or metal pan.
2. Score the cream cheese by using a knife to draw diagonal lines across the top of the block in both directions.  This will help the cream cheese expand (but not melt) in the smoker.
3. Sprinkle the rub over the top.
4. Place in the smoker and make sure the temp does not rise over 170-180 degrees Fahrenheit.  Turn off the smoker after 20 minutes.
5. Leave the cheese in the smoker for 2 hours.

Charred Olives

1. Mix olives, purple onion, smashed garlic, lemon juice an olive oil together .
2. You can make this ahead and let it chill in the fridge until you are ready.
3. About 40 minutes before the cream cheese is finished smoking, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
4. Pour the olive mix into another cast iron skillet.
5. Bake for 25-28 minutes until olives have a nice char on them.
6. Allow to cool slightly while the cream cheese is finishing, about 10 minutes.
7. Remove the cream cheese from smoker.
8. Pour the olive mixture over the cream cheese.
9. Serve with garlic toast slices.

Garlic toast

1. To make the garlic toast, I slice a baguette in 1/4 inch slices.
2. ix softened butter and 3-5 cloves of roasted garlic together.
3. Spread over the slices and bake until golden.

Notes

• Use a barbeque rub that is low in salt (not the first ingredient).  Otherwise, when you add the olives, it will be too salty  
• To make roasted garlic, cover garlic peeled cloves in olive oil.  Bake at 300 degrees for several hours until garlic is fork tender.
• Allow the mixture to cool and pour the mixture into a mason jar.
• Use the olive oil as a marinade or in salad dressings.
• Mash the garlic cloves with butter and spread on breads.

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• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 2 hours 40 minutes
• Category: Appetizers
• Cuisine: American

I hope you will try my Smoked Cream Cheese and Charred Olives. Drop me a comment below and let me know what you think.

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