Pimiento cheese was a staple growing up. We almost always had it in the fridge, especially during the summer. Pimiento cheese made a comeback a few years ago back into mainstream. There are so many recipes out there that include pimiento cheese – pimiento cheese deviled eggs, pimiento cheese twice-baked potatoes, pimiento cheese potato salad – the list goes on. And trust me, we’ve tried them all. But there is something special about classic pimiento cheese that just doesn’t convey into other recipes.

This is actually Part II of our first post for bacon marmalade. We had lunch at a Midtown Atlanta favorite, Empire State South, where we first tried the bacon marmalade and pimiento cheese combo. How did it taste? Stupid good, that’s how.

So here is a close recipe to theirs that we’ve tweaked.

Ingredients:

8oz of freshly shredded sharp cheddar cheese (pre-shredded/bagged has a coating that prevents a good mix)

4oz or cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1/3 cup of mayonnaise

5oz of diced pimientos (you can dice them smaller if you like a pimiento in every bite, like I do)

½ Tsp. of garlic powder

Coarse cracked black pepper and kosher salt to taste

Preparation:

In a mixing bowl, combine the grated cheese and cream cheese with an electric mixer. Mix until combined thoroughly.

Add in diced pimientos and garlic powder, mix until combined and almost fluffy.

Season with salt and pepper to taste, combine into mixture

Voila! Only a few ingredients and a few steps, but sometimes you don’t need 10,000 rare ingredients to make something special – just let the ingredients speak for themselves.

We usually serve this in tandem with the bacon marmalade on toast points or crackers. And a big thanks to the culinary staff at Empire – what a combo!!!

Now make the bacon marmalade! – Part I – Bacon Marmalade