I work at home.
People get the wrong impression of the self-employed. It is harder to work at home.
I would prefer to work in someone else's building.
I do get up and dress for work every day, I just have a one minute commute.
I am what people call, tunnel visioned. I can get so wrapped up in a project that when I finally look at the clock, my day is over. People like us love jigsaw puzzles for that reason. I need to force myself to stop and walk away.
At 4:00 I clean and put away my brushes.
I also grab a package of cheese and crackers, pour myself a glass of wine and start dinner.
As Jacques always says, "dinner tastes better with wine".
My private Happy Hour. It is essential to define work and home. It is also essential to find a cheese you love and eat too much of it, on a daily basis. Only kidding peeps but not far off.
I was spending way too much $$$ on my cheese addiction. Happy Hour is supposed to be half-off everything, right?
Since my cheese drug of choice just happens to be Boursin's Shallot & Chive Cheese, and I have seen recipes for a copycat version, dipping my fromagerie foot into the cheese dip arena would go a long way to that Happy Half-off prize.
Emeril's recipe sounded like what I was looking for, so two bricks of cream cheese, a stick of butter and a few aromatics later, I had 8 servings of what tasted even better than the original. A single container of Boursin netted only two servings.
The difference? $5.00 for two vs. $5.00 for eight. Dere is gold in dem dere bills.
I purchased foil cupcake liners at Wally World, zip bag piped the mixture into 8 of them which were placed in a muffin tin for support. Refrigerate after wrapping in plastic wrap, for at least 2 hours, pop them out and into a large gallon zip bag to freeze. After eating one, I grab one from the freezer to defrost in the fridge. I am so crafty at times.
Chive, Shallot and Garlic Cheese
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: non
Yield: 8 filled foil muffin liners
* 2 tablespoons garlic powder
* 1 tablespoon onion powder
* 1 shallot, minced
* 1 tablespoon freeze-dried chives
* 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, soften
* 1 cup butter, soften
* 1 teaspoon Italian seasonings
* Salt to taste
* Freshly ground black pepper
Mix ingredients in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer. Fill a quart-sized zip bag with the mixture, cut a corner 1/2" in and starting in the middle of each muffin liner, squeeze until the mixture comes up to the top.
Repeat with each liner. Place a piece of plastic wrap in top of the muffin tin and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Remove, individually wrap in plastic and store in a gallon zip bag, in the freezer until ready to serve.
Note: My next batch will include goat in place of the butter. I like the crumble of the goat.
2 comments :
I've had your recipe bookmarked for quite some time. I like the flavorings you've used but have not tried to make your recipe yet... I don't like the idea of all that butter, only because I don't think the texture would be the same as the real Boursin. With that said, I plan to try my own concoction...here is my plan/thoughts: the texture of Boursin reminds me very much of cheese cake. I plan to make a batter with no sugar and use only egg whites with flavorings similar to yours and cook it low and slow in foil lined ramekins in a bain-marie. I think this method would closer replicate the texture that I adore from the Boursin. As I appreciate your recipe, I thought I would share my idea...maybe you will come up with something great! Thanks for posting, Sheri
Hey Sheri,
Thanks for the great idea. Been a while since I visited this recipe and when reading my post I did refer to using goat cheese to replace the butter, so even I thought there had to be a better way. You make your version and I will post it along with my goat cheese one and then the readers can decide.
Thx for your thoughts and time,
Susan
Post a Comment