Herbed Cream Cheese Spread

I've adapted this recipe out of The Grit Restaurant Cookbook (That's the one I "borrowed" from my sister. Thanks, Cat!). I made this with homemade cream cheese and thought it worked really nicely. I served it as a dip with Ritz-type crackers and veggie sticks. I also think it would be great on a sandwich, wrap or bagel. If you have fresh herbs, you can use them, but I used all dried spices. The general equivalency measurement is 1 Tbs of fresh to 1 tsp of dried.

Herbed Cream Cheese
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1-2 small green onions (green only), finely minced
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried basil
1/4 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp minced fresh garlic
1/8 tsp salt (add more if needed)
Pinch of white pepper (black would be fine too)

Mix together softened cream cheese with all other ingredients. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.

For the fun fall presentation in the picture, I sliced almonds in half lengthwise and laid them across the top of the serving bowl to look like a pine cone. I then just put 2 sprigs of rosemary on the top because I had it. You could also take a celery stick and separate it some on the end with a knife to look more pine tree leaf like! My husband thought the flavor of the almonds REALLY added something and "made" the dip.