This is an incredible cheese spread. With the red of the sun-dried tomatoes and the green of the pesto, it makes for a beautiful Christmas appetizer. Garnish with toasted pine nuts and sprigs of basil and serve with crackers.
Although I did not get to try this myself, everyone raved about it at my party. I served it with an assortment of crackers and people kept asking me for the recipe. It's a nice mix of flavors. To save time and energy, I didn't do multiple layers of each thing - I only did one of each, so there were 3 layers in total. I put the dip right onto a charger - white on bottom, red in the middle, green on top. It eliminated the need for the baking dish/plastic wrap thing, which sounded like it could have been a disaster. I also didn't have time to let it sit for a while before serving, but it certainly didn't deter my guests. This was gone by the end of the night. It looked nice too.
Read MoreUnlike others, I did not enjoy making this recipe, also find it expensive. It was tedious. I followed the directions exactly, although halving it, and I just did not find it tastey enough to go through all of the trouble again.
Read MoreAlthough I did not get to try this myself, everyone raved about it at my party. I served it with an assortment of crackers and people kept asking me for the recipe. It's a nice mix of flavors. To save time and energy, I didn't do multiple layers of each thing - I only did one of each, so there were 3 layers in total. I put the dip right onto a charger - white on bottom, red in the middle, green on top. It eliminated the need for the baking dish/plastic wrap thing, which sounded like it could have been a disaster. I also didn't have time to let it sit for a while before serving, but it certainly didn't deter my guests. This was gone by the end of the night. It looked nice too.
Very tasty and lovely creation. I had to give this 4 *'s due to its richness. I had my qualms when reading the nearly pound and a half of cream cheese and over a third of a pound of butter. However, the reviews below won me over, and I made it per the instructions. It was indeed enjoyed by myself & my guests. However, it made so much for how much a person could actually eat of it. And I had 20 hungry people! I think a person could cut the amount of cream cheese/butter mixture in half and use light cream cheese to make this more of a snack food of which people could go back for more.
I made this recipe for my Christmas Party - I followed the instructions exactly - it was a hit! Thanks for a great recipe.
Unlike others, I did not enjoy making this recipe, also find it expensive. It was tedious. I followed the directions exactly, although halving it, and I just did not find it tastey enough to go through all of the trouble again.
I made this for a holiday party with great success. The colors are perfect for Christmas. By mistake, I didn't duplicate the layers and actually liked how it came out as you have a greater concentration of the colors. Have already had requests for the recipe!
This is so good, the first time I made it I was asked to make it again for the next get together. I have tried making it with store bought pesto and sun dried tomato spread and it wasn't quite as good or quite as attractive.
MOST EXCELLENT! This spread is so full of flavor that it's sinful! A little goes a long way, as well. I only made half the recipe to test it out, and I can't wait to make it for a party. AWESOME!
This was very good. Instead of layering in a baking dish, I choose to split the recipe and layer in bowls to give an "ornament" look. I then "decorated" the ornament with extra Pesto spread and added a Pesto "hook". It was very attractive and yummy!
This is so good, and beautiful to serve at Christmas holiday time.
This is a really good recipe. It makes large quantities but keeps nicely in the fridge.
My family loved this. Instead of using just olive oil, I used the olive oil from the jar of sun-dried tomatoes. I also made it a bit 'lighter' and used half light cream cheese. It is Outstanding!
This was delicious. I made it into 4 layers (cream cheese, tomatoes, cream cheese, pesto). In between layering, I put the it in the freezer for a few minutes to make it easier to spread. I also used an angled icing spatula, which definitely helped get clean layers. I put it in a 9" cake pan (I wanted it to be square, since I was using a square platter to serve) and I didn't have any problems removing it with the plastic wrap. I also only used 1/2 cup butter, which was plenty. Try to make it a day ahead of time, as it really does get better after chilling for awhile (trust me, we had leftovers and ate for a few days!). I will definitely make this again.
Great taste, well..I did not have the time to layer ererything so I blended everything together and it was just as good, will make again and again.
This was sooo good!!! Everyone was really impressed with this at our Christmas party and IF there had been any of this left over I was going to use it to stuff a few chicken breasts, maybe next time (though I doubt it).
Even though I cut this recipe in half, it still made a ton of cheese spread. I should have made only a quarter of it. I used store bought pesto instead of making it fresh to save some money, but the premade stuff did not have the right green color and didn't look all that appetizing. I found it difficult to spread into layers and if I make it again I will follow others suggestions to just do it in three layers. I found the spread to be quite tasty and my guests loved it. Worth making for holiday parties.
Loved this spread! I also only made three layers to save time, but it was still pretty. I also halved the recipe since the party I took it to was small. I also used one large clove of garlic in the pesto layer and it was almost too much (if there could be such a thing). I think next time I will use slightly less garlic. I loved this and I am going to make it again next week for another gathering. Thanks!
I only made the sun dried tomato with cream cheese but that too was delicious. Will surely try the whole spread on some occasion.
Came out great! Very garliccy - just the way we like it. After sitting in the fridge overnight it was even better.
This was a perfect recipe for the last of my summer basil. Everyone raved about it and asked for the recipe, so I guess it turned out well. Also, I used asiago cheese baguette slices instead of crackers. I don't usually use low fat foods (because low fat mean no taste); however, reduced fat cream cheese helped save some fat grams. I couldn't tell the difference. Great recipe!
Beautiful display of colors, rich flavor, and a HIT! This has become a staple for entertaining!
Everyone at the dinner party asked me about the ingredients. It was a huge hit. No leftovers.
Big hit at my party but unnecessarily difficult. Hint - use a 6" springform pan, no Saran Wrap. Next time I will skip using the beater, buy whipped cream cheese and no butter as it's rich enough. Probably stir in some sour cream to make it spreadable. Also some reduced fat ingredients would work fine as the pesto and sun dried tomatoes have a strong flavor. The white layer as listed was too tough to spread and a pain to beat. But all in all the crowd loved it, thanks!
I made this for my birthday party and everyone loved it. I tweaked the recipe; by adding just 3 tablespoons of butter, and mixing the cream cheese with chopped basil. This is recipe is a keeper!!!
Yum yum!! I made it per directions except: (1) used reduced-fat cream cheese; and, (2) layered cream cheese, tomato, cream cheese, pesto, cream cheese. I do wish I'd used up all the cream cheese - maybe added to tomato mixture - which I found a bit overpowering. The dinner guests were totally impressed and fought for the left-overs.
I LOVE making this for guests -- they always love it! It is delicious as is, and if I've got goat cheese on hand, I will interchange or mix it with the cream cheese.
I found this recipe on another website last year & made it for a family gathering at Christmas--it was absolutely the hit of the party! The only change I made was to use my own homemade pesto. Last month, I made it again for my book club and this time, much to my delight, I had a bit left over. Later that week, I used what was left to stuff two skinned & boned chicken breasts (small pocket cut into the outer edge of the breast meat), held together by toothpicks & baked at 350 for 25 min, basting with the juices. The chicken was moist, flavorful & got rave reveiws!
Even though it takes some time to assemble (I chilled each layer before adding the next one), it got raves at the party I took it too. I reduced the butter by 1/3 and omitted one of the pesto layers because of time constraints. It was still irresistable to all!
This dip is expensive and time consuming but all well worth it!! It has a very robust taste so do not add anything extra like garlic like I usually tend to do. It does not need it. People ask me to make this a lot for potlucks. Do not cheat buy buying the already made pesto! I did this to save time one time and it ended up looking like a brownish gross mess on the plate not long after sitting out. If you take the time to make this it will be a hit!
This was so savory! I scaled the recipe to 1/4 and it more than satisfied my family of 4. Like others, I only made three layers. I will definitely make this again. Thanks for the recipe!
Very delicious, Colorful, the pesto I made with sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts, this made a very interesting taste, I will make this again.
I was really looking for a Sun Dried Tomato spread to put on bagels (something like the spread at Noah's bagels), but in failure to find an exact recipe I decided to improvise with this spread. I only made the pesto and sun-dried spread but instead of only adding 1/3 of a cup of cream cheese I added an entire 8 oz bar to each mix. I also added a pinch of salt to the sun dried spread. I didn't make the butter/cheese mixture. I put the two spreads in two seperate containers and now have the option of having a pesto cream cheese bagel, sun dried tomato bagel, or the best of both worlds. Just had it on a cheese bagel toasted and I think I've given Noah's a run for their money! Love it!
So great! It was a tad labor intensive - I made a few minor changes.. I omitted the butter and instead used one package cream cheese and one package goat cheese. I first did the goat cheese/ cream cheese layer , then I did the sundried tomato layer , then a little more of the goat cheese layer , then the pesto layer. I put it in a 6 inch spring form pan the night before. I also sprinkled pine nuts all over the top. I uploaded a pic- it was amazing. Rave reviews from family . ????. I got the hint to put it in a springform pan from another reviewer and I wouldn't do it any other way!
I brought this to a Holiday party~ everyone raved!!!
Absolutely delish! My family loves this recipe and they INSIST on having it every holiday.
