Can we talk about this real quick? This is so good you don't even KNOW. So you have to make this so then you can know. Okay? Thanks.
Those manly finger tips belong to my hubby, BTW.
The good thing about this recipe, is that there is bread, cheese, and 95 pounds of butter so just short of dumping gas on it and lighting it aflame, this will taste down right DUH-LISH.
Here are the best ingredients in the world:
Round Crusty Bread Loaf
Italian Blend Shredded Cheese
Butter (or use unsalted butter and 2 pinches of sea or kosher salt like me)
Garlic
Dried Italian Seasoning
Fresh Chives
Alrighty. So. Chop up your fresh garlic and chives.
And melt your butter over medium heat.
Add in the chives and garlic and return to the heat for 1-2 minutes and stir often to infuse the flava into the buttah. Did I just type that? I think I did.
I saw my mother in law Nancy do this once, and it was the downright smartest thing I have ever seen. She cuts super crusty bread with an electric knife. HELLO. Genius. I mean, can we talk about crostini? Takes seconds.
So you want to cut it one way and then the other to make cubes. Do not cut all the way through the bottom, you want to leave the bottom crust totally intact.
See? This is what you want. Awesome Blossom like.
Ok so you can eat it like this. OR you can wait another 30 minutes or so for true paradise. Just wait.
Pull out two pieces of foil. Place one horizontally, one vertically.
Slowly drizzle the herb garlic love butter on top of the bread. Move the pieces of bread around as you go so the butter gets distributed as evenly as possible. You can also use your hands and rub the butter into the individual sides/pieces of bread. That's what I did. Because I really love food. Yippidy do da.
Oh...it gets better.
Add your dry Italian seasoning to the cheese and toss it around with your hand.
Sprinkle/push the cheese in all the nooks and crannies.
Oh bizzzzooyyyyyy.
Ok so remember how we had a piece of foil for each direction? This is why. Make a nice little tent.
You want to bend the foil inwards, but not over the top. Why do it this way you ask? If you fold all of the foil around the top, the melted cheese will get stuck to the foil and - GASP - get wasted. So we cook it like this first and then once the cheese is nice and golden brown on top and out of harms way, bend the foil over top (after the first 10-12 minutes or so).
I mean. This is the tastiest football I have ever seen.
Can we just have a moment of silence through the next series of photos? Thanks.
shhh...
silence...
It's still going!! Hot damn. Serve this for NYE, for your next football Sunday, or on Tuesday just because it's Tuesday. And enjoy because life is good. Every crunchy cheesy bite of it. Stay hungry!
Cheesy Pull Apart Bread Recipe
1 Round Crusty Bread Loaf
2 Cups Italian Blend Shredded Cheese
1-1/2 Sticks of Unsalted Butter
2 Garlic Cloves, chopped
1/2 Tsp Dried Italian Seasoning
1 Tbs Fresh Chives, chopped
Preheat oven to 400. Cut cross hatches in bread to make cube shaped slices, but leave bottom crust in tact. Melt butter over medium heat and add garlic and chives. Stir and cook another minute or two to infuse the garlic and chives. Drizzle butter mixture over bread as evenly as possible. Use your hands to rub the butter into the crevasses. Mix the dried Italian seasoning with the cheese and pack the cheese into all of the nooks and crannies. Wrap bread in foil but leave top uncovered for first 10-12 minutes of cooking until cheese is golden brown on top. Then, cover and finish cooking for another 20 minutes or so until outside of the bread is very crisp and cheese is melted through. This will go ridiculously fast so if you are serving more than 4 people, make two. ENJOY!