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 just 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 is a good sized appetizer for a party.
Cranberry Cream Cheese Spread
- 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
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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 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.
Let’s Get Started on that Cranberry Dip!
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 and refrigerate to cool completely.
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.
As always, thank you so much for visiting my site and trying my recipe! If you enjoyed this recipe (or have changes that you made that are amazing), I want to hear about it! Just leave me a comment or find me on TikTok and Pinterest. Thank you for supporting my site and interacting with me. I love sharing my cooking and I love you!
~Trisha
Cranberry Cream Cheese Dip
Tart cranberries and sweet jam make this cranberry cream cheese dip a fall favorite appetizer that serves up a crowd. Everyone will be asking for this recipe!
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.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 424Total Fat: 24gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 196mgCarbohydrates: 53gFiber: 3gSugar: 39gProtein: 5g
Nutritional information is automatically calculated with ingredients and serving size and may not be accurate. Please always double check with your own nutritional apps as well.
Pat __mcnair says
This has to be the most Devine cranberry dish ever.Thanks for sharing
Chris says
Could I use orange marmalade instead of apricot jam?
Trisha says
Hi Chris! Yes, I think that orange marmalade would be just fine. The only thing w/ marmalade is that it tends to have actual pieces of oranges in it, so that would add some texture. Cranberries and orange are pretty complimentary!
rebecca says
I always make a fresh cranberry sauce for our Thanksgiving and Christmas Dinners. I am so looking forward to trying this dip and definitely will be adding jalapeno. Can’t wait to make this. Thanks for sharing.