Get your taste buds ready because cranberry cream cheese dip combines the sweet, tart, and salty for a delicious fall-friendly appetizer dip that looks beautiful and tastes amazing!
Whether you use this recipe as a dip, a spread, or a stuffing for the inside of won-tons or pinwheel sandwiches, this Cranberry Cream Cheese dip is a beautiful mix of cranberry tart and the sweet taste of sugar and jam.
A perfect combo with cream cheese, eating with pretzel crisps adds the bit of salt that takes this recipe to the next level.
What you see in the images is only HALF the topping of the recipe, it makes in total 2 bricks, so it is a good-sized appetizer for a party.
Cranberry Cream Cheese Spread
- 1 package, 12 oz, frozen whole cranberries (no sugar added), thawed OR 1 bag of FRESH cranberries
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup apricot preserves or jam
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 2 bricks, 8 oz, cream cheese, softened
- buttery crackers or pretzel chips for serving
- fresh mint to garnish, optional
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Common Appetizer Questions
- What do you dip Cranberry Dip with? I recommend serving with pretzels, Ritz Crackers, or even a veggie dipper like celery sticks. Personally I also love bits of Italian or French bread torn up to dip with!
- Instead of a block, can you ball the Cream Cheese? The easiest way to ball up cream cheese is to place on plastic wrap, shape, and put in the fridge to firm for an hour or two. You can see more info on this in my chocolate chip cheese ball dip recipe.
- How much dip does this recipe make? This recipe makes enough cranberry pour for 2 blocks of cream cheese, or if you like a lot of cranberry on top, to re-pour as people eat the cream cheese down.
- Are there any other ingredient changes I can make? A lot of people love the flavors of jalapeno and cranberries together, so you could easily dice fresh jalapenos and combine with the cranberries for a Cran-Jalapeno dip. Additionally, instead of cream cheese, you could also use a other soft cheeses like goat cheese or brie as the base.
- Can fresh cranberries be used – YES! Simply use fresh cranberries in place of thawed frozen ones, follow recipe as instructed.
Let’s Get Started on that Cranberry Dip!
Add cranberries, sugar, preserves, and water to a large saucepan.
Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat until boiling.
The mixture will begin to bubble and get frothy as it heats, and you may hear the cranberries sizzling and popping.
Continue to boil for 5 minutes, constantly stirring until the berries are popped open, and the mixture begins to darken.
Remove from heat and stir in pecans.
Let set to cool and refrigerate to cool completely.
Once cooled, stir the cranberry mixture, so it’s pliable.
Press a spoon in the center of the cream cheese to create a divot.
Spoon the mixture on a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers or pretzel chips.
Makes 2-3 appetizer bricks.
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Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip
Ingredients
- 1 package 12 oz, frozen whole cranberries (no sugar added), thawed
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup apricot preserves or jam
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 2 bricks 8 oz, cream cheese, softened
- buttery crackers or pretzel chips for serving
- fresh mint to garnish optional
Instructions
- Add cranberries, sugar, preserves and water to a large saucepan.
- Heat saucepan over medium high heat until boiling.
- Mixture will begin to bubble and get frothy as it heats and you may hear the cranberries sizzling and pop.
- Continue to boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until berries are popped open and mixture begins to darken.
- Remove from heat and stir in pecans.
- Let set too cool from stove and then refrigerate until complete cooled.
- Gently press a spoon in the center of the cream cheese to create a divot.
- Spoon mixture on top of cream cheese and serve with crackers or pretzel chips.
- Makes 2 appetizer bricks.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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