Honey Pecan Cream Cheese Spread

Let’s be real here. Can you really enjoy a bagel all on it’s own or is a spread of some kind required? For me, a bagel must have a spread – sweet, savory, creamy, something. Otherwise, without a spread a bagel is just boring. Anyone else agree?

As much as I would have loved to have made bagels from scratch, I settled for store bought mini bagels to include on a recent brunch menu. To help redeem myself from serving store bought items, I decided to made some homemade cream cheese spread to pair with the bagels. For a sweet spread, I thought of my favorite cream cheese – honey walnut. Why not try making it at home?

In my pantry, I had a cute jar of Amish Pecan Honey given by my friend and fellow food blogger, Amber. It’s been in my pantry for quite a while but now I finally found the perfect time to use it. (Although for this recipe you can certainly use plain honey.) Instead of using walnuts, I used chopped pecans which I toasted before incorporating it with light cream cheese and the honey. I probably used too much honey because the result was more of a spread rather than the thick, cream cheese I aimed for. Regardless, it was delicious and I enjoyed eating it for breakfast this week. Some other ideas for this flavored cream cheese would be using in baked goods (quick breads) or even made into a honey pecan cream cheese frosting for cakes/cupcakes, dessert bars and the like. Mmmm…. maybe this weekend I just might use some of this leftover cream cheese in baked goodies!

1/4 cup honey
1 brick (8oz) neufatchel cream cheese (lightor regular cream cheese)
pinch of salt
2-3 tablespoons chopped pecans, lightly toasted

In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients above. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes.