Cranberry Feta Cheese Log

This festive cheese log recipe is creamy, combined with the sweet and bitter cranberries. It’s the perfect spread on a cracker and looks beautiful on your table spread for the holiday season. Bring this as an appetizer to a party, or serve it yourself.

❤️ Why You’ll Love This Cheese Log

• Quick Prep: This cheese log recipe takes only 5 minutes to prep, the rest of the time is just spent resting so it’s the perfect consistency for spreading
• Holiday-Friendly: This cranberry feta cheese log is the perfect appetizer for your holiday event
• Prep Ahead: Make this cheese log the day before your gathering and pop it in the fridge. An easy appy to make in advance

🍲 Ingredients

Cranberries – Cranberries seriously scream the holiday season. They are the perfect berry to add to cooking and baking. That’s because they are in-season during the winter months, versus other berries that flourish in the summer. I like to use Cape Cod Select Cranberries. They sell fresh and frozen, premium cranberries and they’re so good in recipes. They use no additives, they are sustainably farmed, which is very important to me

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Rosemary – If you think of a winter herb, you think of rosemary. Rosemary is the perfect hearty herb to add to soups, casseroles, and other holiday dishes for a delicious earthy flavor. In this cheese log the rosemary really compliments the cranberries. I would recommend using fresh only.

👩‍🍳 How to Make a Cheese Log

1. Make the cranberry mixture:  To a medium pan add 2 tbsp butter and turn to medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the frozen cranberries and cook, stirring occasionally for about 3-4 minutes until they start to soften. Turn the pan to medium-low and add in the salt, pepper, rosemary, and minced garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5-6 minutes until cranberries are reduced to a jammy-like texture. Set aside in a bowl to cool or cool more quickly by placing it in the fridge for about 10 minutes.
2. Once the cranberry mixture is cooled make the cheese log. In a bowl mix together feta cheese, cream cheese, sundried tomato, cranberry mixture, and 2 tbsp chopped pistachios.
3. Set out a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper. Put the cheese mixture onto the plastic wrap or parchment paper and use your hands to form the mixture into a log shape. Use plastic wrap or parchment paper to wrap up the cheese log and place it into the freezer or fridge for 30 minutes to set. Roll the cheese log in 3/4 cup chopped pistachios and place the cheese log into the fridge again for at least 15 minutes or until ready to serve.
4. Serve the cheese log drizzled with honey if desired and with our pita bread, baguette, or crackers.

🪄 Tips and Tricks

• Making in Advance? Make sure to not roll the cheese log in pistachios until you’re ready to serve. This way they’ll maintain their crunch.
• Serving: Serve this cheese log with fresh, homemade pita bread (or store-bought), you can also serve it with crackers or crostini.

🗒 Variations & Substitutions

• Nut-Free: If you have allergies, or your guests do, you can make this nut-free. Just make the cheese log as is but eliminate the nuts. You won’t get the crunch, but it’s still delicious without them
• Herbs: If you don’t have rosemary on hand, you can swap for fresh thyme instead
• Berries: If you want to try a different combination, other than cranberries, you can try this with blueberries. I’d remove the sundried tomatoes though

🗒 Best served with

• Greek Pita
• Homemade Crackers
• Crostini with Roasted Grapes (another great holiday appetizer)

👝 How to Store Leftovers

Roll the log back up into the parchment paper and foil to store in the fridge. The pistachios on the outside will become a bit soft, but it’ll still be delicious. Store in the fridge for 3-4 days. If you want to make it in advance for a party, just don’t roll it is pistachios until you are ready to serve.

🤔 Common Questions

Cranberry Feta Cheese Log

5 from 5 votes

This cranberry feta cheese log is the perfect appetizer for the holiday season. The best part? You can prep it in advance in only a few minutes.

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Resting time 45 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American-Inspired

Servings 4

Ingredients

  

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• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 cup frozen Cape Cod Cranberries
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 tsp fresh rosemary minced
• 1 cup feta cheese crumbled
• 1 cup plain cream cheese
• 2 tbsp pistachios chopped
• 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes chopped
• 3/4 cup pistachios chopped
• optional: honey to drizzle

Pita

• 1 each pita

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Instructions

 

• Make the cranberry mixture:  To a medium pan add 2 tbsp butter and turn to medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the frozen cranberries and cook, stirring occasionally for about 3-4 minutes until they start to soften. Turn the pan to medium-low and add in the salt, pepper, rosemary and minced garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5-6 minutes until cranberries are reduced to a jammy like texture. Set aside in a bowl to cool or cool more quickly by placing in the fridge for about 10 minutes..
• Once the cranberry mixture is cooled make the cheese log. In a bowl mix together feta cheese, cream cheese, sundried tomato, cranberry mixture and 2 tbsp chopped pistachios.
• Set out a piece of plastic wrap or parchment paper. Put the cheese mixture onto the plastic wrap or parchment paper and use your hands to form the mixture into a log shape. Use the the plastic wrap or parchment paper to wrap up the cheese log and place into the freezer or fridge for 30 minutes to set.

  Roll the cheese log in 3/4 cup chopped pistachios and place the cheese log into the fridge again for at least 15 minutes or until ready to serve.
• Serve the cheese log drizzled with honey if desired and with our pita bread, baguette or crackers.

Pita

• 

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Notes

• If you want to serve this cheese log with crostini, here’s how to make it: Preheat the oven to 400F. Using a bread knife, slice the baguette into 1-inch thick slices. Brush the baguette slices with olive oil on one side and place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Toast for 10 minutes total, flipping halfway through. Set aside.
• To make the cheese log ahead of time, complete all the steps EXCEPT DO NOT ROLL IN THE pistachios. Tightly wrap the formed cheese log in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil – it helps to keep the shape and store in the fridge for up to 3 days. When ready to serve, remove from the fridge about 20 minutes before serving, roll in the chopped pistachios and then serve.

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