Chili Cream Cheese

As noted in a previous post, I was quite pleased with the outcome of my homemade chili powder. The first batch I made included dried chipotle peppers, aji cereza, and aji limo rojo chilies. The chipotles provide some heat along with a smoky flavor. The Aji cereza are a very hot chili and the aji limo rojo are hot with a slightly sweet taste.

I chose cream cheese as my basis for testing the chili powder because it was quick and easy. I could take a tablespoon or two and add the chili powder until I got to heat level I was looking for. Lastly, if I hated it all it would not be an expensive or time consuming mistake.

The outcome was great. Cream cheese alone has a nice creamy texture and adapts quickly to what you add to it. I ended up using a ratio of about 1 1/2 teaspoons of chili powder to 1 Tablespoon of cream cheese. Even though I used some hot chilies, the end result was not too hot. The cream cheese picks up the deep colors of the chili powder and intensifies the longer it sits.

Granted this was just an experiment with my homemade chili powder, it was a quick way to test it out without a lot of work or waste of ingredients in case the outcome was not good Trust me, though, the chili cream cheese did not go to waste in my house!

When you try new things do you go for the gusto and make a full recipe or do you reduce it as a testing ground?

P.S. A few houskeeping notes:

There is so much I want to do to and with my blog, but I never seem to find enough time to divide and conquer. I learn as I go and make notes of things I would like my blog to have when I visit other blogs. Over the past few days, though, I have added two features. One is the capability to print out a version of a recipe without getting the entire post and pictures. You will find this under the recipe headings noted as "Printable Recipe". On the fence if I should update every single previous recipe with this feature. I probably will, over time. Lastly, I have added an option on the left nav bar for readers to sign up and receive an email when I post something new. For my bloggie friends out there: How have you improved your blog? Learn as you go? Take a class? Lots of reading online :)?