I don’t know that I’ll ever get tired of a hot bagel, fresh out of the oven, smeared with cream cheese and jelly. But sometimes, I do want a little extra something to make the bagel a little extra special. Variety is the spice of life, right?
Here are some ideas for bagel toppings and spreads that I’ve culled from various places. Different flavored bagel doughs will take some experimenting, but you can use any of these toppings or spreads with the plain bagel recipe in this course.
Toppings: Add these toppings to the bagel immediately after you take them out of the boiling water. Sprinkle seasonings from a height of 12″ to get the most even coverage.
Poppy Seeds
Sesame Seeds
Onion
Garlic
Salt
Everything (a mixture of the first five toppings)
Caraway seeds
Cinnamon Sugar
Chili Flakes
GF Rolled Oats (if you can tolerate them)
Spreads/Shmears
Flavored cream cheeses are another great way add a special twist to a bagel. Here are some ideas, but be creative and come up with your own. Solid flavorings can be stirred into cream cheese, which is easier to do if you’ve let the cream cheese come to room temperature.
If you want to flavor the cream cheese with a spice, roll two tablespoons of cream cheese into a ball, and then roll the ball in the spice to coat it. To sweeten cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar one teaspoon at a time.
Solid Flavorings:
Scallion
Bacon & Scallion
Walnut & Raisin
Pineapple
Jalapeno Cheddar
Jalapeno Green Olive
Chopped Lox (smoked salmon)
Orange Zest
Spice/Seed Flavorings
smoked paprika
cinnamon sugar
dill
poppy seeds
curry
freshly ground peppercorns
minced onion
red chile flakes
nutmeg
You can also whip cream cheese with your mixer to make homemade whipped cream cheese. Any of the solid flavorings can be added to regular or whipped cream cheese.
Whipped Cream Cheese
8 0z. cream cheese
4 Tbsp. milk, half & half, or heavy cream OR
4 Tbsp. honey OR
4 Tbsp. maple syrup OR
4 Tbsp. marmalade
Whip cream cheese and your chosen liquid with either a stand mixer or hand mixer. Your primary objective is to whip some air into the cream cheese so that it’s light and airy. You could probably do this by hand if you have a very strong arm and a very strong whisk. I opt for the mixer.