Preparing Your Cream Cheese
Remove cream cheese from packaging and use a sharp knife to create a diamond pattern.
You want to go about 1/2″-ish into the surface.
The purpose of this pattern is that it allows moisture to escape.
If you opt not to do it, you sort of risk ruining the surface as it may bubble.
Once cross hatched, take your everything bagel seasoning or your BBQ rub and liberally apply it to the surface of the cream cheese.
Setting Up Your Smoker to Smoke Cheese Effectively
You will need:
- A pan that you can fill with ice (like aluminum pans)
- Cooling rack
Fill the pan with tons of ice.
Once you have the pan filled with ice, place a cooling rack above this pan and then place your cream cheese on the cooling rack.
This keeps your cream cheese elevated off the grill grates.
You can also add several ice pans to the smoker to help with hot spots.
Like on a pellet grill there is typically a hot spot at the back, front, and middle of the smoker.
In my electric smoker I use one below the cream cheese and one above the heat source.
I then set my smoker to 110F as this is the minimum temperature required for the wood chips to smolder and produce smoke.
On a pellet smoker the lowest setting is usually 160-200F – this may lead to melting of the butterfat.
If you’re struggling to keep the temperature low and your cream cheese is melting – even with ice pans – I’d suggest buying either:
In terms of wood, I like to use Maple, Apple or Cherry with cheese; If you like a stronger smoke flavor, go with oak, pecan, or hickory.
Smoke the Cheese for 1 Hour
Don’t go overboard with wood chips/smoke.
At most, add 2-3 wood chips every 45 minutes for 1 hour.
Too many for too long will result in bitter creosote flavor on your cream cheese.
Cooling and Wrapping in Plastic Wrap
After smoking for 1 hous, you can technically take the cream cheese out of the smoker and enjoy.
However, I’d suggest that you pop it into your refrigerator for a few hours to firm back up, then wrap in plastic wrap and put it back in your refrigerator overnight.
I often find that the smoke flavor enhances overnight for all cheeses.
It also helps tempers the dirty smoke flavor that’s common with cold smoked cheese.
Smoked Cream Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 block Cream Cheese
- 3 tbsp Everything Bagel Seasoning
Instructions
- Set your smoker to the lowest temperature setting. On my electric smoker the lowest temperature setting I can go is 110F. At this temperature my wood chips will smolder, anything lower and they won't.Most pellet smokers can only go as low as 160-200F.
- Take your block of cream cheese and cross-hatch the surface – only cutting roughly 1/2" into the surface.
- Liberally apply your everything bagel seasoning to all sides of the cream cheese.
- To an aluminum pan, add lots of ice. Then take your cooling rack and place on top of the aluminum pan. Place the cream cheese on top of the cooling rack.If you have other aluminum pans, it can't hurt to add more ice to your smoker to help keep the temperature down.
- Smoke for 1 hour, adding 2-5 wood chips after 45 minutes.
- After 1 hour, take out of the smoker and enjoy!Optionally, you can put the cream cheese in your refrigerator for a few hours to firm back up. Then wrap in plastic wrap and put in your refrigerator overnight. I find the overnight wrap further enhances the smoke flavor.
