Crack Cheese Garlic Bread

Dear World, I would like to introduce you to these little bites of cheesy garlic bread.  Why do I call it crack cheese garlic bread?  Because I snarfed down half a loaf of this appetizer like a junkie seeking a fix!  These are incredible.  They are also incredibly addictive.  And I am relatively certain that they are not good for you whatsoever.

I got this recipe from Giada DeLaurentiis.  And even though the woman drives my husband mad with her massacre of the word "mozzarella," even he admits that these are pretty damn tasty.

Cheddar Garlic Bread
adapted from Giada's Cheddar and Scallion Bread

1 loaf ciabatta bread, sliced lengthwise
8 oz. cheddar cheese, grated
6 oz. room temperature butter (I use unsalted, it's how I roll and what I put on my rolls.  Ha!  Um, lame ...)
2 cloves garlic, chopped

Take the cheese, the butter and the garlic and blitz them in a food processor until its a nice, combined and spreadable mixer.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees, spread cheesy goodness on the bread and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden and bubbly.  Cut into slices (hint - it's easier if you use a pizza cutter ...)

A couple notes:

1) When I went about making this for the first time, I didn't have the recipe in front of me and ended up playing by ear - and making a ton.  Basically, I used two bags of grated sharp cheddar and then 2 sticks of butter. (Along with the two garlic cloves.)  As you can imagine, this made a ton of spread, but it's stored itself really nicely in the fridge and I've been pulling it out and softening it as needed.  So far, it's been in the fridge for three days.  I give it until the end of the week until I freak out and throw it out.

2) Please, please, PLEASE listen to Giada and use the ciabatta bread.  It has these crazy little holes that fill up with cheesy, buttery goodness when this is baked.  And my God ... if there are appetizers in the hereafter, methinks this will be served.

3) In terms of ciabatta - when I first made this, I bought a big loaf, but I also used some ciabatta rolls that I found - same thing, just smaller.  I really liked this because I didn't have to do as much cutting when it came time to serve my apps.