Liptauer Paprika Spiced Cheese Spread

• Cuisine d'Eli

While there seems to be some contention about whether this paprika-infused cheese spread originates in Slovakia or Hungary, its deliciousness is not up for discussion. The Liptauer cheese that is traditionally used for this recipe has become synonymous with the tangy orange dip, but if your circle of friends is lacking in Eastern European sheep farmers – as mine sadly is – you can always just use cream cheese.

I was delighted to discover that goat’s cream cheese is an actual thing, and mixing it with ordinary cow’s milk cream cheese makes for a more interesting  flavour than you’d get with cream cheese alone or the more traditional mix of cream cheese and butter. You could choose to blend the mixture to make the flavours come together a bit more, but I personally enjoy the surprising little burst of flavour released by biting into the occasional caper or cumin seed. This spread is great on sourdough bread or rye crackers, and those wild garlic flowers I picked the other day are the perfect garnish.

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Ingredients:

150 g organic plain cream cheese

100 g organic goat’s cream cheese

3 heaped tsp ground paprika

2 tsp capers

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

pinch of salt

pinch of cayenne pepper

black pepper

wild garlic flowers to garnish (optional)

sweet smoked paprika

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  • Start at least one day in advance. First mix the two cream cheeses together in a bowl.
  • Toast the cumin seeds in a pan, add some olive oil and sautee the red onion for a few minutes.
  • Add the onion and cumin seeds to the cream cheese mixture and add salt, paprika, pepper, cayenne and capers.
  • Stir to combine, cover and leave in the fridge overnight.

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  • Garnish with some smoked paprika (and some wild garlic flowers if you have them) and eat on top of dark rye bread, a slice of sourdough, dark crispbread or crackers or use it as a dip for crudité.
  • Keeps in the fridge for a few weeks.

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21 thoughts on “Liptauer Paprika Spiced Cheese Spread”

  6. Thaks so much for sharing this recipe – My husband loves Liptauer cheese! It is popular here too (I’m in Germany) I had no idea it was so simple to make.

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    1. You’re welcome, Marianne! It’s whipped up in no time and you don’t have to follow the recipe to a T either, you can just tweak it to suit your own taste and preference. Let me know how it goes if you try it :).

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    1. That’s a good question, I was thinking about that myself too, because goat’s cream cheese is a little harder to come by. I think you could definitely do it flavourwise, but since soft goat’s cheese has a lower moisture content, the mixture might become a little firmer. If you don’t mind that, it’s absolutely fine. And if you do want it to be a litte fluffier, you could maybe experiment with adding a tiny bit of thick yoghurt or cream?

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  10. Hi Eli ! I had no idea about the flavor benefits of goat’s cream cheese addition. It’s a great info that you shared, and I’m glad you did. I love goat’s cheese, and I am sooooooooo trying this next time I make cheese spread! Thanks for the tip 🙂

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