Thanksgiving will be comin’ round the mountain in just a few days now you know, folks. I just can’t wait. It’s always such an enjoyable day. I love enjoyable days. Days spent eating delicious food, and visiting with wonderful family members. Looking forward to it!
Today for me, was one of “those” days. You know about them, don’t you? Not the really enjoyable kind. The kind you just try and plow through while you wonder how many things are going to go wrong!
A few months ago my cute TeenNephewJayDee told me, “Aunt Jamie, everything you cook is like perfect, and everybody like LOVES everything you make because it is like ALWAYS so good.”
Wow. What a cute and thoughtful boy. I wonder what he would think if he were to have witnessed the “like” perfection going on in my kitchen this morning.
This morning my goal was to make and photo this fabulous Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip….just for you all.
Ten minutes into the project, I had burned both of my hands on some hot and fiery jalapeno pepper seeds.
Then….I filled my blender up with cranberries. (While running to the sink every 30 seconds to pour water over my burned hands) Trying to get the cranberries to break up in the bottom of the blender, I stuck a wooden spoon down into the cranberries and chopped the thing to bits. At this point I spent a good 5 minutes contemplating the pros and cons of inflicting wood poisoning on my family. My blender can grind things up pretty fine you know.
Then…. I poured the CranberryWoodChipDelight down the disposal.
My sink wasn’t that impressed with the concoction and chose to get all clogged, and plunger needy. Nice.
Right at that same moment….
another form of plumbing….
in a separate room…..(white porcelain piece of work with a lid)
got all plunger needy.
Don’t hold that picture in your mind for too long…this is a food blog you know.
It was a plunger happy, hands on fire, wood chips in my teeth kind of morning. And right on a day I was going to not drink any Diet Coke, too. Let me just say, Diet Coke doesn’t taste that great if you’ve got wood chips in your teeth. Perfect. Just perfect.
But lucky for us….this Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip is super fabulous! My TeenNephewJayDee would give it the “like” perfect thumbs up. It’s got a little bit of a spicy kick to it. If spicy-kick isn’t your cup of tea, no worries. Just leave the jalapeno out. Then you would also most definitely not burn your hands with it’s venomous seeds. Double bonus!
1. Put your cranberries in a food processor. I used my mini chopper (one batch of CranberryWoodChipDelight was enough for me. The blender and I aren’t speaking to each other at this point….) You could also, just chop them up.
2. Chop up your green onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper into small pieces. Careful of the seeds now. Throw on a pair of rubber gloves or something, please. The seeds are the hot part of the pepper. If you don’t like a lot of heat on the old pallet, just leave the jalapeno out.
3. Add all ingredients (but the cream cheese and the wheat thins) into a bowl. Mix them all together, cover and store in the fridge for at least 4 hours. The sugar needs some time to soak in to the cranberries and break up their bitter taste.
4. When you are ready to serve, place your cream cheese bricks on a plate.
5. Spread the cream cheese out as evenly as you can.
6. Pour your cranberry mixture over the cream cheese.
7. Spread it all around.
8. Serve immediately with Wheat Thins, Ritz Crackers or Tortilla Chips.
Ingredients
- 1ย 12 oz package fresh cranberries
- 1/4 C green onion, chopped
- 1/4 C cilantro, chopped
- 1 small jalapeno pepper
- 1 1/4 C sugar
- 1/4 t cumin
- 2 T lemon juice
- dash salt
- 2ย 8 oz packages cream cheese
- ย
Instructions
1. Put your cranberries in a food processor. I used my mini chopper. You could also, just chop them up.
2. Chop up your green onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper into small pieces. Careful of the seeds now. Throw on a pair of rubber gloves or something, please. The seeds are the hot part of the pepper. If you don't like a lot of heat on the old pallet, just leave the jalapeno out.
3. Add all ingredients (but the cream cheese and the wheat thins) into a bowl. Mix them all together, cover and store in the fridge for at least 4 hours. The sugar needs some time to soak in to the cranberries and break up their bitter taste.ย ย
4. When you are ready to serve, place your cream cheese bricks on a plate.
5. Spread the cream cheese out as evenly as you can.
6. Pour your cranberry mixture over the cream cheese.
7. Spread it all around.
8. Serve immediately with Wheat Thins, Ritz Crackers or Tortilla Chips.
Recipe from Heather Peterson
I just made this tonight and I doubled the cumin because I couldn’t taste it at all at 1/4 tsp and I cut the sugar down to 1 cup. My nephew and I just taste tested it and it hasn’t set the 4 hours for the flavors to meld like the recipe says and we are already hooked! I can’t wait to see how it tastes tomorrow. I’m sure this will be a big hit. We tried it on mini tortilla chip rounds and on the originial Wheat Thins and I like it both ways.
Just a little tip on handling the jalapeno. I do this all the time and I never get burns from the seeds. I cut the stem end off and make sure to only touch the outside area down near the other end. Use the knife to cut around the inside between the membrane/seeds and the outer layer, separating the membrane from it. Now, holding the jalapeno carefully, slice the jalapeno down the middle longways, cutting it in half. Use the tip of the knife to scrape out the membrane and seeds and then put it in a mini chopper or chop by hand.
Jaime, I just found your recipe and I can’t wait to make it! Sounds delicious! I did want to share a secret ingredient for burns. Over the summer I got a very bad burn while grilling at my sons apartment pool. The only water available was the pool water and chlorine didn’t sound friendly on a burn. My daughter’s boyfriend poured plain yellow mustard over it (very messy and stains) but it was instant relief. I had to keep reapplying about every 5 minutes but it really worked! Don’t know if it works with pepper seeds but it’s worth a try.
I made this last year and loved it and I’m getting ready to throw another batch into the food processor.
Of course, now I realize I forgot the green onions! Oh well, I have chopped white onion in the fridge, so I guess that will have to do…
And I’m updating my pinterest pin which the new address ๐
I found this recipe a few years back and it has been SUCH a hit with all my family and friends. I am asked every Thanksgiving to make my sweet potato casserole and my awesome cranberry salsa :). I love to cook and am constantly trying new recipes, but this is defiantly one I will make for years to come and pass on to other family members. Thanks again for all the yummy recipes! Excited to try more from this blog
My daughter made this for Thanksgiving. It was amazing!!!!!!!
I made this for Thanksgiving and it was simply amazing! The only think that I would change about it was the amount of sugar put in. 1 1.4c is a lot of sugar I think. other than that it was great! I hate to change things but it was pretty sweet.
i am so excited to try these there’s so many amazing recipes and……got to try them all
Hi! I just wanted to let you know I am including this in a 35 Christmas party appetizers and drinks collection over at Mommy’s Sweet Confessions. Thank you!