Temptation Tuesday - Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese

A few days ago, I was reminded of how delicious vanilla bean butter is and that thought led to another and here we are. It had been quite a while since I've enjoyed vanilla bean butter or vanilla bean cream cheese, so I decided to do something about it. I elected cream cheese because I already eat enough "regular" butter that I'll likely spiral out of control if I added vanilla beans. Brace yourself for this very difficult recipe.

In addition to a bowl, a spoon and a knife, here's what you'll need:

1 8 ounce block of Cream Cheese, softened
(I left it on the counter overnight)

1 Vanilla Pod

With a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean, lengthwise.

With the knife, scrape the length of the pod to reveal those beautiful flecks.

Mix with the cream cheese.

Find a giant Pistachio muffin from Ingles Supermarket (or any muffin, bagel, etc.).

Smear it with a bit of vanilla cream cheese and enjoy.

Now about this muffin...it was quite tasty without the cream cheese, but it was OMG delicious with it. There were an ample amount of pistachios and the texture and taste was fantastic. If there's an Ingles near you, swing by and pick up a muffin. In addition to Pistachio, the other flavors spotted are: Strawberry, Lemon Poppy Seed, Cran-Orange, Butter Rum, Blueberry and Bran. Oh and they also have giant cinnamon rolls. I'm plotting to try them all, one delicious bite at a time.

If you're wondering what to do with the empty vanilla pod...stick it in a jar of sugar and the vanilla essence will make you very, very happy.

Sheila Denise