Cranberry Jalapeño Dip

Five reasons why you should make Cranberry Jalapeño Dip immediately:

1. It is a crowd pleaser! I’ve made it many times and I’ve always gotten rave reviews. All ages appreciate the combination of tangy, sweet and just the tiniest inkling of spicy kick.
2. Those colors! Doesn’t looking at it just get you into a cheery holiday mood.
3. It’s a one hand dip. You’ll see many iterations of this recipe use cream cheese as the base but I’ve substituted greek yogurt so instead of being spreadable it’s dippable! This means you can totally hold a baby or sip your drink with one hand while eating this dip with the other.
4. The greek yogurt substitution makes it slightly lighter (so nobody runs out of room for the main course). Don’t worry I included a couple tablespoons of crème fraîche for richness! And if yogurt and crème fraîche aren’t your thing you can always substitute cream cheese back in.
5. It’s ready in under 20 minutes with the help of a food processor and can be made well ahead of time.

Also, speaking of lists, I just updated my About page with more information. Check it out and let me know what you think.

I had a variation of this dip for the first time a couple years ago. My friend, Meghan, brought it over for a Friendsgiving at our apartment and I loved it! Since then the recipe has been the gift that kept on giving. I made it for the family and my mom fell in love with it too. She wanted the recipe and made it herself. I was planning to bring it to Christmas party last year but forgot to pick up cream cheese at the grocery store. I substituted greek yogurt and crème fraîche from my fridge and it was so good! In fact, I thought I liked it more with the yogurt. My substitution was further validated when I had people tracking me down at the party to find out who brought the dip and what was in it.

A food processor will do the chopping for you but you can make it using just a sharp knife. I’ve done this before when I made it for my family on vacation. However, it goes from being a 20 minutes dip to at least a 40 minute dip. Cranberries can be slippery little suckers under the edge of a knife. Any leftovers make for a fantastic topping for chicken or fish.

Cranberry Jalapeño Dip

• Servings: ~20 appetizer portions
• Time: 20 minutes

Adapted from Cranberry Salsa by Terri at That’s Some Good Cooking via Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients:

• 12 oz package (340 grams) raw cranberries
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar*
• 1 bunch green onions, white and light green part only (some light green reserved for garnish)
• 1 jalapeño, seeds removed and roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• juice of 1 lime
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup whole fat greek yogurt
• 3 tablespoons crème fraîche**
  Special Equipment Needed: Food Processor

Method:

Combine cranberries, sugar, onion, jalapeño, cilantro, lime and salt in the bowl of food processor. Pulse until the salsa is still slightly course but would be spreadable.

Stir together yogurt and Crème fraîche. Spread on the bottom of a plate and top with salsa. Garnish with additional cilantro, whole cranberries and green onion. Serve with pita chips or crackers.

Notes:

*Cranberry Jalapeño Dip are generally tart but do vary in sweetness. I’d start with 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons sugar, let the salsa sit at least 30 minutes and then taste. If it very bitter add additional sugar before serving.
**Crème fraîche is a fancier, better version of sour cream. I get mine at Trader Joe’s. You can substitute sour cream (whole fat only) or use one 8 oz block of cream cheese instead of the yogurt and crème fraîche.