This recipe happened almost by accident. After making several tests of this amazing strawberry ice cream, I had both cream cheese and strawberry puree leftover. Did I mention that there were also bagels in the pantry? This strawberry cream cheese was a hit at our house.

bagel half with strawberry cream cheese spread over the cut side on a white plate this recipe

There is much to love about this. Unless the cream cheese you’re using has them, there’s absolutely no artificial ingredients in this recipe. Cream cheese + strawberries + honey.

Strawberry flavor

I tested this recipe twice with different methods of working the strawberry flavor in. For the first test, I roasted the strawberries for 10 minutes and pureed them. By the time I had the strawberry flavor I wanted in the final product, the cream cheese itself was weepy.

Since there’s so much water in fresh fruit, you need to add a lot of it to get a decent flavor. For the next test, I pureed the strawberries and reduced them down into a thicker paste. Think of how tomato paste is compared to tomato juice. Concentrated with minimal moisture.

The reduced puree was the perfect solution! I was able to use the entire batch of puree, which ended up only being about 1/4 cup after reducing. No waste and perfect, intense strawberry flavor without being runny.

Sweetener

You don’t need much, since this isn’t frosting or cake filling. I used about a tablespoon and a half of honey, but you could add or subtract by a half if you wanted to.

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bagel half with strawberry cream cheese spread over the cut side on a white plate

Strawberry Cream Cheese

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  • Author: Megan
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cooling Time: 2 hours
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Total Time: 2 hours + 25 minutes
  • Yield: 1 cup (16 Tablespoons) 1x
  • Category: Condiments
  • Method: Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

Sweet and tangy, this strawberry cream cheese is your bagel’s new best friend.

Ingredients

Units Scale
  • 8 oz strawberries, washed and hulled
  • 8 oz full fat cream cheese, softened
  • 1–2 TB honey

Instructions

To reduce the strawberries:

  1. Pulse the strawberries in a food processor until you have about 1/2 cup of smooth puree. Add the puree to a small saucepan and simmer over medium low heat until you have just 1/4 cup remaining. This should take about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a small bowl to cool completely before using.
  2. After the strawberry puree has cooled, combine the puree, cream cheese and honey in a mixing bowl and beat until well blended and smooth.
  3. Strawberry cream cheese will keep in the fridge for a few weeks.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 tablespoon
  • Calories: 60
  • Sugar: 2.7 g
  • Sodium: 44.7 mg
  • Fat: 4.9 g
  • Saturated Fat: 2.9 g
  • Trans Fat: 0 g
  • Carbohydrates: 3.4 g
  • Fiber: 0.3 g
  • Protein: 1 g
  • Cholesterol: 14.3 mg

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