Does anyone here watch the Pressure Luck You Tube channel? Jeff uses Boursin as a staple, and when I found some on sale, I got it - and while I liked it, it didn’t like me. I burped that stuff for DAYS afterwards, and it clung to my throat like almost nothing I’ve ever experienced before, except for Marmite.
Boursin in scramble eggs….mmmmmmmmm
Some desserts traditionally take Italian-style cream cheese like Mascarpone:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Tiramisu\_-\_Raffaele_Diomede.jpg/800px-Tiramisu_-_Raffaele_Diomede.jpg
Very odd. To me, Boursin herb & garlic is just a refined variation on cream cheese. I love the stuff. In fact, thanks to this thread, it’s on my shopping list for tomorrow along with bagels!
Another alternative…says Wikipedia
In 1872, William Lawrence, a New York dairyman of the township of Chester, created the first American cream cheese as the result of adding cream to the recipe for Neufchâtel.[3]
American Neufchâtel is softer than regular cream cheese due to its approximately 33% lower fat and higher moisture content.[4][5] Due to this reduced fat content, it is found in most grocery stores as a reduced-fat option to cream cheese.
A few years ago, Mrs. L’s boss invited us over for dinner. Mrs. Boss served us some brie en croute. If you love cheese and you’ve never had it, you need to get acquainted. It’s awesome. I’ll link to a recipe but at the heart of it, you need…
A tube of dough
A brie
Some jam/jelly/preserves (We’ve used onion/garlic marmalade, pepper jam, but it’s up to you).
Egg wash
Directions: Roll out your dough. Place the brie on top of dough. On that place your jam/jelly/preserves. Wrap the dough over it, get fancy if you like with decorations etc. Egg wash, bake. When finished, dip a sturdy cracker or chip in and watch it disappear.
Mrs. L found a wedge on sale, bought it. Because it didn’t have that outer rind all the way around, it melted out into the pan and was a total mess. No matter, it was still dispatched quickly.
Google your own recipe if you like; this goes so far as to use puff pastry.
Some cream cheese, some butter, a little milk and some fresh parsley or chives makes excellent mashed potatoes.
I feel the same way about heavy cream. I don’t know how I cooked without it.
As long as we’re pairing cream cheese with jams and jellies, don’t forget the heaven that is cream cheese on a cracker with a hot pepper jelly.
There was just an article on the CNN website about a supposed cream cheese shortage. I read it just before shopping for Christmas cooking, and was glad that nothing I was planning on required cream cheese. However, the store had plenty of cream cheese, so I bought two cartons of it, just in case.
Mmmmmmmm cheese!
I like cream cheese but I prefer neufchâtel and make my own garlic/jalapeno/onion/whatever I feel like spreads every week. (They key is to not use dry herbs and spices, btw. I mean, you can use them but they should be re-hydrated somewhat before mixing with the cheese.)
I eat two mini-naan with it for breakfast most mornings.
Up here in the Seattle area we learned a secret about cream cheese.
Typically I do grilled bell pepper instead of onions, since I can’t digest onions properly. 
I use cream (actually, the half-and-half that I use for coffee) for mashed potatoes, but you’ve just given me an interesting idea: adding some Boursin herb & garlic Gournay (per my previous post) to mashed potatoes!
…and that’s how you get a shortage.
I came in here to comment on SacFly’s post, too, but to say that it similarly enriches pureed vegetables. One of my cold-weather favorites is zuchinni, leek, squash and potato. Cut into small pieces, add as little water as possible and part of a crumbled chicken bouilllon cube (or broth instead of water+bouillon). Cook with lid until soft, add a dollop of cream cheese (or any fake or real cheese), stir until it’s dissolved and blend or run through a food mill. It’s not much to look at, but it sure makes your insides feel good. Like they’re giving you a warm hug on a cold winter night.
Now that’s an idea… I’ve done the cream cheese mashed potatoes and think highly of it, but I had never considered adding Boursin herb & garlic to mashed potatoes.
Maybe? Has anyone tried it with potatoes? Perhaps I just don’t like Boursin that much. Maybe it would go better with some raclette cheese, or a Saint-Marcellin or something.
All these posts and no one has yet mentioned the wonder that is cheesecake? I make a pumpkin cheesecake for Christmas almost every year - it never disappoints.
Cream cheese is good in mashed potatoes if you’re out of sour cream. Or add both, like some of my relatives do for their holiday meals.
If you’re in a hurry…
My wife uses both cream cheese and sour cream when she makes mashed potatoes.
I’ve mixed Boursin in with instant mashed potatoes (it’s not bad if you buy the right stuff) and it adds a ton of flavor.
2 Cream Cheese tidbits -
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A Cream Cheese block with BBQ sauce poured over makes an excellent easy dip/spread for crackers.
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When I was working in Germany, our canteen sold pre-made sandwiches which had meat, cheese slice, and herbed cream cheese spread. My initial reaction was, “hey now, cheese on cheese?” But I was easily convinced that this is the way to make a sandwich, and have adopted it in my home!
Here is my cream cheese specialty…
Take one can of no bean chili, and one block of cream cheese. Put it in a large bowl that you can microwave. Heat it up a minute at a time, stirring it thoroughly after each time you heat it, until it’s mixed up together nicely. You can eat it with tortilla chips (or if you’re fancy, some bread and butter). It’s insanely delicious and the easiest thing in the world.
Back in the “before days” when people could gather in the workplace in multiple years I brought it to Halloween potlucks in a bedpan. Actual photo from one year:
You really need to see the effect in person, as steam is rising off of it. Something that looks that wrong shouldn’t taste so good.