What is it?

Cream cheese is a creamy, spreadable cow’s milk cheese with a slightly tangy flavor. Besides its most famous uses as a spread for bagels and a cheesecake filling, it’s also used in cookie doughs, cake and brownie batters, frostings and fillings. It occasionally makes its way to the savory side of cooking, appearing in pastas, dips, soups, and sauces.

Kitchen math:

8 oz. = about 1 cup

How to choose:

For almost all baked goods that call for cream cheese, use the kind that comes in a brick (we like regular Philadelphia brand cream cheese) and not in a tub. The cream cheese in a tub is formulated to make it more spreadable than the brick kind. That’s fine for your toasted bagel, but it’s usually not good when you’re using the cream cheese as an ingredient.

How to prep:

Most recipes call for cream cheese to be at room temperature before using.

Recipes

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  Recipe

  Hazelnut White Chocolate Cheesecake Bars

  These sophisticated cookies combine the flavors of earthy hazelnuts and sweet white chocolate. Depending on your craving, you can finish these bars with either bittersweet chocolate ganache or sour cream…

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  Recipe

  Pumpkin Bars with Brown Butter Frosting

  These cakelike bar cookies use elements that are both traditional and fancy: a simple pumpkin cake base topped with a nutty brown-butter frosting.

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  Recipe

  Cheese Blintzes with Strawberry Sauce

  The sweet cheese filling is perfect for breakfast or dessert with berries or seasonal fruit, topped with a sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar.

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  Recipe

  Slow-Cooker Southern-Style Short Ribs with Pimiento Grits

  Tender, meaty beef short ribs are classic cold-weather comfort fare, but these—made in a slow cooker while you tend to the rest of your life—harken back to summer, thanks to…

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  Lingonberry Cream Cheese Pastries

  These individual tarts are simple to make using purchased puff pastry. You can prepare them up to the point of baking, freeze them, and then bake one whenever you want…

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  Recipe

  Sweet Potato Cheesecake with Gingersnap Crust

  The candy-like bottom edge of the gingersnap crust makes a wonderful contrast to the creamy custard in this festive dessert.

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  Turkey and Sweet-Hot Pepper Grilled Cheese

  A mixture of cream cheese and grated cheese makes a luxurious sandwich. Spicy mustard and sweet pickled jalapeños add just enough heat to counter all that richness. Look for the…

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  Recipe

  Smoked Salmon Waffles with Scallion Cream Cheese

  If you like the classic combo of lox, bagel, and cream cheese, you’ll love these waffles. The contrast of the crisp waffle and the silken salmon on top is pure…

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  Recipe

  Maple Pear Slab Pie

  The secret to the filling’s deep, rich flavor begins with cooking half of the pears with maple syrup until they are caramelized and reduced to a thick purée. Folding in…

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  Recipe

  Raspberry Zebra Cheesecake

  This decadent raspberry–vanilla zebra cheesecake is a showstopping, sophisticated version of one of America’s favorite desserts, and it’s deceivingly easy to prepare. Both the crisp, nutty crust and smooth, airy…