CHEESY GARLIC BREAD

Ingredients

1 loaf French bread or Italian bread
½ cup (1 stick) salted butter very softened
1⅓ cups shredded mozzarella cheese
⅓ cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon dried basil

Instructions

Heat oven to 400° F. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining with parchment paper, tin foil, or spray lightly with cooking spray.
Cut the french bread loaf in half, horizontally, so you end up with two longer and thinner pieces of french bread. Put the bread halves on the prepared cookie sheet.
In a small mixing bowl, mix together the softened butter, shredded cheeses, garlic powder, and dried basil. Mix until everything is combined well.* This will take a few minutes to mix it all together. I use a wooden spoon or silicone spatula to mix it.* TIP : Make sure the butter is very well softened. I actually put it in the microwave and cook it for about 20 seconds. You’ll end up with soft chunks of butter. This way, it’s much easier to mix it with the other ingredients.
Divide the mixture in half and evenly spread it onto each french bread piece.
Bake for 12-15 minutes. It will be done when the cheese is nicely melted and golden brown, and the bread and edges are golden browned. Cut into slices and serve.

Notes

Butter : To make it easy to mix, be sure you are using very well softened butter. I actually put the butter on a microwave-safe plate and microwave it for about 20 seconds. It makes the butter into soft chunks which makes it much easier to mix in the cheese and seasonings.

French Bread : You can use regular French bread, Italian loaf, or some artisan crusty bread. There will be enough of the cheesy garlic butter to cover most any bread you choose. Costco sells a 2-pack of some Italian loaf bread that is really good (I use that one a lot when I make this) and I also buy the ciabatta rolls from Costco as well, and spread the butter on each side of several of them. There are lots of options for the ‘French bread’.