Fresh sheep cheese wasn’t even a thing a decade ago. Now we have options, including this newcomer from Spain. Like a buttery cream cheese, it’s all ready to schmear on your morning bagel. Or to marinate with extra virgin olive oil and garlic confit for wine o’clock. To savor this cheese at its most seductive, warm it until it quivers.

Wooly Wooly had a prior life as MitiCrema, a spreadable Spanish sheep cheese packed in a jar. Importer Michele Buster wondered if it might sell better in a vacuum-sealed log, the format used for a lot of fresh goat cheese. You can still find MitiCrema at some retailers, but Wooly Wooly is its new, sliceable twin. The producer is in Spain’s Murcia region—goat cheese country—and makes the Naked Goat and Drunken Goat wheels that are so popular here.

You can substitute Wooly Wooly for fresh goat cheese in any recipe, like baked goat cheese salad or goat cheese and lentil salad. I marinated it in extra virgin olive oil with thyme, whole garlic cloves and thyme sprigs; it’s more buttery and a touch less tangy than most fresh chèvre. Packaged at 10 days old, it is firm enough to slice, not fluffy like, say, the Green Dirt Farm Fresh Sheep Cheese.

When warmed slightly in the oven, the cheese has a custardy texture. Serve it warm over wilted spinach, beet greens, broccoli rabe or chard. What a healthy way to start the new year!

Marinated Sheep Cheese with Olive Oil, Thyme and Garlic

Adapated from Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook by Alice Waters (Random House).

• 1 package (5-ounce) Wooly Wooly, at room temperature

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

• 6 cloves garlic, peeled

• 2 fresh thyme sprigs

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 2 dozen Niçoise olives

• Crostini for serving

Cut the Wooly Wooly crosswise into 4 disks of even thickness. Place them in a container just large enough to hold them side by side.

Put the olive oil, garlic and thyme in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the garlic is soft but not colored, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool to room temperature. Add a pinch of salt and several grinds of pepper, then pour the contents of the saucepan over the cheese. Scatter the olives around and add more oil if needed to cover the cheese.

Cover the container and set aside in a cool place for 4 to 8 hours. For longer keeping, refrigerate but bring to room temperature before using.

To serve warm, transfer the marinated cheese, garlic cloves and thyme to a baking dish and spoon over some of the oil. Bake in a preheated 375°F oven until the cheese just quivers when touched, about 4 minutes. Serve immediately.

Serves 4