Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar

October 21, 2013 by 2 Comments

Now that the weather is turning cool and the leaves are turning, I turn to cooking again and wanting something warm. Let’s make that warm and oozy and… for Octoberfest, with beer?

I’ve also been thinking about Halloween food. I have to admit, I am not much a fan of Halloween, although I am of autumn. I love the colors of the leaves and the crunch sound they make as you walk on them that makes me think of mac and cheese with panko topping, the cooler temperatures that encourage layering of clothing and scarves and layered casserole and a glass of red wine for dinner. I do love autumn and comfort food.

But, sadly, not Halloween. I’m not that big into candy, I’m allergic to latex so the smell is revolting to me. Even when I was young, I was more into the dressing up and collecting candy, but not into eating the candy itself. The most memorable parts were waiting in line for Toys R Us to open with my mom and siblings, and then when we walked in, they had a whole aisle of costumes, with the sample up at the top to show the outfit, and then all these boxes stacked underneath like shoeboxes with the mask on top, peering through hopefully at you through the plastic window at the top of the box. When you opened the box, you could smell that aroma of new new new plastic.

Halloween of my childhood Halloween of my childhood
I am the one to the far right, Strawberry Shortcake. Superman and that bizarre blond princess are my younger brother and sister (I have on other sister not yet born). Seriously, those trick or treat containers really set a high expectation of how many treats a child will get in one night no?

It also marked the season when we would start decorating the house- for Halloween, we were just hanging things on the door and window decals which were real 3d posters, not the cling stuff you usually find now. My family didn’t do jack o lanterns, and I carved my first pumpkin in 1st grade with the help of 8th graders who came to assist at school, which then got thrown and destroyed in the street a few days later. Traumatized, I’ve only carved pumpkins one other time (an old boyfriend when I was in my 20s tried to bring the charm of Halloween jack o lanterns to me… it didn’t work.)

Pumpkin gore, and people gore, is not my cup of tea. Some of the gory presentations that I’ve seen on Pinterest for Halloween food are unappealing to me personally- food that looks like bleeding fingers or teeth or eyeballs, I don’t get it. However I saw one photo of using bell peppers to make mini jack o lanterns, and thought it was adorable!

This smoked beer cheese recipe and presentations is inspired by that idea, plus then is my version of the Beeroness’ Roasted Garlic & Parmesan Beer Cheese Dip but I decided to use a Tillamook smoked black pepper white cheddar cheese, and then used a Red Alder smoked salt rather than her suggested smoked gouda, although that also sounds delicious.

Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns

Ingredients

  • 2 large heads of garlic
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 12 ounces of cream cheese or Neufchatel (1 1/2 packages) or you can use tofu cream cheese
  • 14 ounces or 1 3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
  • 6 ounces Tillamook smoked black pepper white cheddar cheese, shredded
  • 1 cup IPA beer – I picked 10 Barrel Brewing’s ISA, which is mildly hoppy but also has citrusy grapefruit and pine notes because I still have some in the fridge
  • 1 teaspoon of Sriracha or other red chili sauce or hot sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste – I decided to kick it up with alder smoked salt from The Meadow
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • 1/4 cup chopped green onions
  • Bread or crackers or pretzels or whatever vehicle for the cheese you’d like for serving it to your mouth!
  • 6 Bell peppers – red, orange, yellow for serving (optional)

Ingredients gathering for Smoked Beer cheese in bell pepper jack o lanterns Ingredients gathering for Smoked Beer cheese in bell pepper jack o lanterns smoked salt and smoked cheddar

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Take your two heads of garlic and carefully cut the top of each head garlic off, just enough to expose all of the cloves. Place each head on a separate piece of tin foil. Drizzle each head with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and seal the foil around the garlic. Place both wrapped garlic head on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 30 minutes. The garlic cloves should be really softened to a point that you cold squeeze the cloves out. Remove both roasted garlic heads from oven and allow to cool. It’s ok if maybe you eat a warm clove or two to test it… I did!
    roasted garlic
  2. Meanwhile, while your garlic is roasting, shred your cheeses and take out your cream cheese or Neufchatel out, cut into small pieces, and let warm to room temperature- if you’re using tofu cream cheese it will already be soft, yay! It is better to shred the cheese yourself rather than use preshredded cheese because the preshredded has additives that I think make it taste not quite as good, and it doesn’t melt as well. Besides, you can get better tasting cheese in the block cheese form, and it will last longer, especially when you have odd amounts like what was used in this recipe (unless you get the cheese cut for you by a cheesemonger, you will inevitably be buying 8 ounces). While my garlic was roasting I just grated while watching the Mindy Project. I love Mindy Kaling. Love. I love show she portrays a neurotic woman but unlike many other neurotic female characters often seen in TV or the movies, is only partially clueless about social cues instead of apparently so unaware that she’s clueless about basic social rules, and she is still warm and giving rather than being closed off=independence and bitchy and controlling and unreasonably demanding=smart and a leader. I can always take some more Mindy, just like I can always take more garlic or cheese, thank you.
  3. In a food processor, add the softened cream cheese/Neufchatel/tofu, 1 1/2 cup parmesan (so save 1/4 cup for later. It makes for a slightly crispy topping!), smoked cheddar, beer, red chili sauce, salt, and corn starch. Squeeze the roasted heads of garlic until the soft cloves comes out and also add these to the food processor. This is why you need really large heads of garlic, as maybe one or two cloves will be a little too soft when squeezing out and you may licking roasted garlic off your fingers. Yum. Oh, back to the recipe. I already had black pepper in my cheese, but if you are using another cheese you may want to add a teaspoon of pepper. Process everything until well combined.
    Smoked Beer cheese in process Roasted garlic + Smoked Beer cheese in process
  4. Place the mixture into a baking dish. At this point, I would recommend letting it chill overnight in the fridge to let the flavors develop more. Meanwhile, drink the rest of your beer bottle- unless you did already while grating your cheese. When you are ready, top your cheese mixture with the remaining 1/4 cup cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees F until melted and the top has started to turn a light golden brown and is bubbly and ooey gooey, about 35-40 minutes.
    Smoked Beer cheese about to go in oven Smoked Beer cheese about to go in oven
  5. Remove from oven, top with green onions, serve warm with chips or bread. For fun, I decided to cut the top portion of two bell peppers for F and I and clean out the inside so they were reminiscent of mini pumpkins, and spooned some beer cheese into them for serving.
    Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns

I thought my lil cute faces on my bell peppers (which I had cleaned out) were adorables!

Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns Smoked Beer Cheese: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns

How does this compare to the other beer cheeses I made before, the ranch cheddar beer dip version and the blue cheese and extra sharp cheddar beer spread version that I made around this time last year?

beer cheese recipe beer cheese recipe

Well here’s the cheese! It has the thicker consistency like the beer spread shown in the second photo, which makes it great for putting on bread or crackers. After I took my first bite or so I decided to add a little more smoked salt on top to taste. I admit when it comes to it, even though I really like smoked cheese, my favorite beer cheeses include blue cheese in the mixture as I like the complexity of the slight sourness and fuller body it offers, though I understand not everyone loves blue cheese’s saltiness. I definitely like this recipe over the ranch cheddar version as that smokiness in this recipe gives it more oomph for me, and this was more peppery than salty (from the ranch).
Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns Smoked Beer Cheese Recipe: Roasted Garlic, Parmesan, Tillamook Smoked White Pepper Cheddar in bell pepper jack o lanterns

And… that is as Halloween as I’m going to get! what do you think of Halloween food? Do you have a favorite costume from your past you still think about fondly?

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Beer Cheese Faceoff

October 22, 2012 by 3 Comments

In preparation for a beer potluck, I decided to try some of the recipes I've been saving that incorporate beer as an ingredient. The first of these is the simple beer cheese. You can use beer in your fridge that has been sitting around, leftover from not finishing the bottle, or just any beer you feel like trying flavor-wise. The orange-ness of the beer dip (thanks to the cheddar) also makes it an appropriate one for this Halloween time period.

Hidden Valley Beer Cheese Dip

This first one is courtesy of Hidden Valley, and is a recipe easily found on the internet but which I will repeat here. It normally will yield 24 ounces of dip total, enough for 6 people, but I increased and altered the recipe because I wanted higher yield for more people. I also used sour cream when increasing the recipe to give it more of a softer smoother consistency for actual dipping of soft pretzels and potato chips than cream cheese alone would have given. But, I did not increase the amount of mix in the recipe, trusting the beer to add enough flavor along with the original lower yield amount of Ranch mix.

Ingredients:

  • 2 8 ounce packages of softened cream cheese (I picked specifically Neufchatel Cream Cheese both because it is softer and less fat)
  • 1 16 ounce container of light sour cream or tofu “sour cream"
  • 3 cups freshly finely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • 1 package of Hidden Valley Original Ranch mix
  • 1/2-3/4 bottle of 12 ounce beer, based on desired taste/consistency
  • Optional: chopped green onions and bacon bits for garnish. I only used green onions, about 1/8 cup full.

 The steps are easy enough:

Directions:

  1. Combine cheddar cheese and cream cheese and sour cream and dip mix in a large bowl. Mix.

    2. beer cheese recipe

  2. Gradually stir in beer to desired consistency and taste. I happened to go with Kona Brewing Longboard Lager

    3. beer cheese recipe beer cheese recipe

  3. Chill in fridge at least overnight- the flavors improve with time, so can even wait 24 hours…

    4. beer cheese recipe

  4. Garnish optionally with the chopped green onions, bacon bits, a bit more sprinkle of cheese as desired. Serve with pretzels, crackers or vegetables. You can serve this hot or chilled.

Wynkoop Brewing's Beer Cheese Spread

In the other corner is a Beer Cheese Spread courtesy of Wynkoop Brewing Company of Denver, Colorado but which I got the recipe thanks to a Cooking with Homebrew article by Daria Labinsky at Brew Your Own, a homebrew magazine. The yield here of this recipe is 24 ounces.

Ingredients:

  • 6 ounces softened cream cheese
  • 6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
  • 12 ounces sharp white cheddar cheese, grated finely and fresh (I used X-sharp cheddar, not white)
  • 1/4 cup minced green onions
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon celery seed – but I didn't have any and instead used ground coriander
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
  • 1/2 cup any full-bodied ale can be used. Its strong flavor can enough to stand up to the biggest, hoppiest beers, even a barley wine

Directions:

  1. Combine all ingredients except beer in the bowl of a food processor or electric mixer. Mix or blend until everything is well incorporated.

    2. beer cheese recipe beer cheese recipe beer cheese recipe beer cheese recipe

  2. Slowly add beer while processor or mixer is running. I used some Longboard Lager… but I had also drank from the bottle a bit, so then I switched it out to a beer that had come in a Sam Adams Seasonal Sampler pack that I didn't think was special enough to need to savor on its own, the Sam Adams Boston Lager.
  3. Place mixture into a crock or serving bowl, and chill for at least 2 hours. You can serve this heated or cold, but if served cold I recommend letting it sit for a little bit to soften. This is a spread so is really chunky and thick (at least the way I had it, room temperature/chilled), and great for spreading on bread- not for dipping- as long as it's not so hard that you are tearing your soft fresh bread.

    4. beer cheese recipe beer cheese recipe

So how did these two do? Well first of all, I have to say this was a ridiculous night of making these. My cheap blender couldn't handle the thickness of the cream cheese. Meanwhile, my Ninja Mixer blades didn't turn anymore when I put the motor on top because the plastic parts had worn down too much. And my Kitchenaid mixer only works for a certain amount of time before the motor burns out and it has to take a nap for 30 min.

That explains a bit why in some of the pictures, you see everything being moved from container to container. After working out with weights earlier in the day, and then shredding all that cheese, my arm was not loving all the hand mixing. It was frustrating but in retrospect comedic how all the mixing mechanisms I had in the kitchen failed all in one night.

As mentioned, the beer dip is a softer consistency, so is great for literal dipping of chips, pretzels, etc as it will not break the "vehicle for cheese" so seems more versatile than the spread. However, the beer spread definitely has much more depth in flavor thanks to the 3 cheeses and hint of heat, even if you need to use a utensil to spread it on the baguette slices.
beer cheese recipe beer cheese recipe

In terms of highlighting the beer ingredient, the beer spread has a flavor that overpowers a light beer- if I make it again I would definitely use a much darker, stronger tasting beer than a lager. The beer dip though worked perfectly with the Longboard Lager, and I can definitely taste the beer woven in the flavor, I think partially because of the reduced ratio of the Hidden Ranch in the recipe (which I found a bit salty at the original recipe's ratio for my taste), and because the (tofu) sour cream adds just a bit of light flavor that would have been too heavy if I had only used cream cheese.

The cheesiness of the beer spread is very high, if you are a cheese lover, and it has a nice tang from the mix of cheeses. Though, dipping is an easier party gathering option than spreading (which requires a utenstil, rather than a carb vehicle for dipping). The beer dip list of ingredients is definitely a better value pricewise as part of your grocery bill, as well as a value in making more for a crowd. Also keep in mind if not everyone likes blue cheese, the beer dip may be a safer bet.

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