Hungarian Liptauer Cheese Recipe

Hungarian Liptauer Cheese and Crackers

Liptauer cheese adds an unexpected burst of flavor to party cheese and cracker assortments. Commonly served with bread at meals in Hungary, liptauer cheese makes an extraordinary addition to appetizer menus. Serve it with crackers or toast points and your guests will be delighted with its robust flavor.

While this recipe is quick and easy to prepare, it does require nearly a full day of refrigeration. You will need at least eight hours for draining the cottage cheese and another eight hours or so for refrigerating the prepared liptauer cheese.

Capers and anchovies can be added to this recipe for even more flavor. Simply purée one anchovy or a tablespoon of capers (or both) with the onions before blending in the cream cheese and sour cream.

Experiment even more with the paprika and caraway seeds. If you like the texture of caraway seeds, use them whole. Otherwise, grind them. Similarly, use your favorite paprika — regular or smoked.

Draining The Cottage Cheese

Liptauer Cheese

• 12 oz large curd cottage cheese
• 8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• ¼ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup diced onion
• 1 large clove garlic
• 2 ½ tsp Hungarian paprika, regular or smoked
• 1 tsp caraway seeds, whole or crushed
• ½ tsp dry mustard
• ½ tsp freshly ground pepper
• ¼ tsp salt

Yield: 3 cups.

Note: for best flavor, refrigerate this liptauer cheese overnight before serving.

Mixing Cottage Cheese
Into Spicy Cream Cheese Mixture

Place the cottage cheese on a square of cheese cloth and tie the corners together to enclose the cottage cheese in a bag. Hang the bag of cottage cheese over a bowl or place it in a sieve suspended over a bowl. Place this bowl in the refrigerator and allow the liquid to drain from the cottage cheese overnight (eight to 12 hours).

The next day, finely purée the onions and garlic in a food processor. Add the cream cheese, sour cream, and spices. Blend in the food processor until well combined. Spoon this cheese and spice mixture into a mixing bowl.

Discard the liquid that drained from the cottage cheese. Add the cottage cheese to the cheese and spice mixture. Gently mix by hand until well combined, while being careful not to break up the cheese curds.

Refrigerate overnight and serve with crackers or toast points cut from rye or pumpernickel bread. Enjoy!

I am sharing this liptauer cheese recipe with Menu Plan Monday, Mangia Mondays, My Meatless Mondays, Tuesdays at the Table, Passionately Artistic, Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Tuesday’s Tasty Tidbits, Made From Scratch Tuesday, Tutorial Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Crazy Sweet Tuesday, Real Food Wednesdays, Whatever Goes Wednesday, What’s Cooking Wednesday, Wow Us Wednesdays, These Chicks Cooked, Midweek Fiesta, Full Plate Thursday, It’s a Keeper Thursday, Creative Juice, Strut Your Stuff, Delightfully Inspiring Thursday, Catch A Glimpse Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Tastetastic Thursday, Frugal Food Thursday, Foodie Friday, Creation Corner, Frugal Friday, Feature Yourself Friday, Living Well Blog Hop, Anything Goes, Freestyle Friday, Simply Delish Saturday, Not Baaad Sundays, and Savory Sunday.