Cheese and Bread Appetizers to Treat Your Palate

Cheese and bread go great together. This combination is excellent for easy and cheesy appetizers. Here are some recipes you can try to amaze your family and guests.

Almost everyone knows that glorious feeling of biting into a warm and crunchy sandwich filled with gooey cheese, a.k.a. a grilled cheese. There are so many ways to create the perfect grilled cheese. Bread and cheese just go together like a match made in heaven. However, you shouldn’t limit yourself to grilled cheese sandwiches if you want to enjoy this heavenly couple. Great Harvest of Newtonville, the best bakery in town, brings you some delicious bread and cheese recipes to try out this month.

Cheesy Pull Apart Bread

This edible centerpiece looks and tastes delicious. A simple recipe that will surely wow your guests and keep them asking for more. The cheesy pull apart bread is stuffed with mozzarella or provolone cheese, butter, minced garlic, and topped with parsley or green onions. Enjoy this tasty appetizer fresh out of the oven. Ingredients

• 1 small crusty bread loaf (sourdough, country, etc.) *
• ¾ cup shredded mozzarella (or your preferred melting cheese)
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 c parsley, finely chopped
• 7 tablespoons butter
• ¾ teaspoon salt

What to do

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. In a heatproof bowl, combine butter, garlic, and salt and melt in the microwave. Stir in chopped parsley.
3. Use a sharp serrated knife to make 1” diagonal cuts across the loaf. Be careful not to cut all the way through. Make some more diagonal cuts the opposite direction to form small diamonds. Use your fingers to gently pry open each bread crack and drizzle with the garlic butter. Stuff your shredded cheese into the cuts. Don’t worry about making it super neat. If you have some leftover garlic butter, drizzle it over the bread crust.
4. Wrap the bread with foil and bake for 15 minutes, until the cheese is almost melted. Remove the foil and bake for five more minutes to make the crust a little bit crunchy.
5. Serve immediately.

*In a pinch, even a crusty baguette will work. Get your fresh, crusty bread from the greatest bakery in Newtonville, MA. Call Great Harvest of Newtonville at (617) 928-1162 to learn about their wonderful bread options. If you worry about your diet, they also have some healthy whole wheat bread options,

Pretzel Bites with Warm Queso

Remember walking through the mall with a soft pretzel and cheese dip? Relieve that experience at home with this pretzel bites recipe. Dip your mini pretzels in a warm, cheesy dip like Le Crème de la Crumb’s Copycat Chili’s Queso. Ingredients

• 4 cups flour
• ½ cup baking soda
• 1 egg, whisked
• 1 pack active yeast (2 ¼ teaspoons)
• 1 ½ cup warm water
• 1 ½ salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• Coarse salt

What to do

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.
2. In a small bowl, mix warm water and yeast. Let the mix sit for 3-5 minutes. Stir in salt and sugar.
3. Place the flour in your stand mixer’s bowl and pour in the yeast mixture. Knead with the bread hook for around 5 minutes. You can also knead by hand.
4. Divide the dough into six sections. Make 15-20” long and 1” thick ropes with each dough piece. Use scissors or a knife to cut the rope into 1 ½- 2” pieces. Cut a little “x” on top of each pretzel.
5. Bring 12 cups of water and ¾ cup baking soda to a boil in a large pot. Once the water is boiling place about eight pieces of dough in it for around 30 seconds. Remove them and place them onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Once finished with all the pretzel bites, brush the dough with egg and sprinkle coarse salt on top.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes. If you want to, you can broil the pretzels for the last minute to brown the tops. Remove pretzel bites from the oven to a cooling rack and brush with melted butter.

Cream Cheese Filled Buns

Eat warm or eat cold, whichever way you choose to eat these cream cheese stuffed buns will leave you craving for more. Ingredients

• 5 2/3 cups flour
• 2 ½ teaspoons active yeast
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons vegetable shortening
• 1 cup milk
• ¼ cup water
• 2 packs 8oz cream cheese
• 1 egg, whisked
• ¼ c sesame seeds

What to do                 

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Sift flour, sugar, and salt into a bowl.
3. Pour the active yeast into the 50 ml water and mix until well incorporated.
4. Mix the dry ingredients with the shortening and knead.
5. Pour in the milk and the yeast mix and knead until the dough doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl. The dough should be elastic.
6. Make small dough balls and fill them with a small piece of cream cheese. Careful not to add too much cheese.
7. Let the dough balls rise in a warm place until doubled in size. Lightly brush each ball with the egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
8. Place the cream cheese filled balls on a sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 12-15 minutes or until tops are slightly brown.

Visit the Best Bakery in Newtonville

If you don't feel like cooking, you can always just buy your favorite cheese and pair it with a loaf from Great Harvest of Newtonville. Call the bakery at (617) 928-1162 to find out about their monthly specials.