Simple Savory & Satisfying: Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

Monday, December 29, 2014

Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip

Forget the ham or the mac and cheese or the mashed potatoes. This Christmas, all anyone cared about was this amazing dip. It's savory and refreshing and delicious. Both my mom and mother-in-law insisted on taking some home and my husband made me go out and buy some more crackers so he could finish off our leftovers. If only cranberries were available year round, I would make this dip throughout the year.

Recipe from here.

Ingredients:
1 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries, rinsed and dried
1/4 cup green onion, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons lemon juice
dash of salt
2 8-ounce packages of cream cheese, softened (I used low fat)

Crackers for serving. We used butter crackers, but my mother-in-law also ate the dip with tortilla chips.

Directions:
Finely dice cranberries. You can do this in your food processor (which is what I did) or dice them by hand. In a large bowl, combine diced cranberries, green onion, cilantro, pepper, sugar, cumin, lemon juice, and salt. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 4 hours (and let mine sit over night). This allows the sugar to dissolve and be absorbed by the cranberries.

Before serving, spread the cream cheese evenly on your serving plate. Pour on cranberry mixture over the cream cheese. Serve with crackers.