An Appetizer to Bring to All your Holiday Parties

Tis' the season...to never know what to bring with you to all of those holiday parties! But whether you are hosting the party or just want to bring a little appetizer this dish is super easy to make and will be a huge hit. I promise!

Cranberries are a very popular food in the winter both to eat and decorate with, but when I think of a "snack" my mind never goes "ooohhh Cranberries sound yummy", but lately I've been trying to use them whenever I can. They are gorgeous to look at and very tasty. You can also do a ton of stuff with them......things you may not have ever thought to pair with cranberries. This particular recipe is a Cranberry Salsa, and I hope you like it! 

Fair warning...I made it the night before Thanksgiving and let it sit over night. This ended up being good on many levels. The biggest reason being that I got jalapeno in my nails and then of course I rubbed my lips with said fingers/nails and both burned for AN HOUR AND A HALF! I couldn't make it stop. Burt's bees helped ever so slightly, but that would have been an awful Thanksgiving lunch had I still been burning! So be careful as you chop up and de seed the jalapeno...if you do get some on your hands keep them away from your face!

Cranberry Salsa

1  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

2  8 oz packages cream cheese

Steps!!!

Step 1: Put the cranberries in a food processor. You want to chop them up so just twist the top on and off in a pulsing motion until the cranberries are as fine as you want them. You can also chop them up if you want, but it's going to be a lot more work for you. 

Step 2: Chop up the green onion, cilantro, and jalapeno into small peppers. Make sure on the green onions to use the white portion because that's where most of the flavor is. You can use the green too though! For this step I left out the cilantro because my mom doesn't like it (and I may have forgotten it at the store...oops!), but it turned out just fine without it. Cilantro is a strong flavor, and isn't for everyone. That being said I think my mom is an exaggerator because depending on the dip you can't even taste it.

Step 3: Add all of the ingredients (except the cream cheese) in a bowl. Mix it all together and cover/store in the fridge for at least 4 hours. It helps the sugar soak up and causes the cranberries tart flavor to fade just enough. 

Step 4: Right before you are ready to serve. Put the cream cheese on your serving plate (you may want to let it soften just a little before spreading it) and spread the cream cheese in about a quarter of an inch to half inch layer across the plate. I would leave some room on the edges so if the cranberries spill over the edge it doesn't go off the plate. 

Step 5: Pour cranberry sauce over the cream cheese and spread it all around! And you're done! Hooray!!!!!!

This will seriously be gone in 5 minutes, so if you have a big family you might consider making a double batch. Or two separate batches, that way if no one eats it you can save the other for yourself! I served it with these pita type chips, but you could use wheat thins, slices of garlic toast, or pretty much whatever you want or what type of chip your family prefers. I would stick to a relatively bland flavored chip or cracker though because the salsa has so much flavor and you don't want to take away from it. 

You could serve this at a holiday meal, bring it to a holiday party, or serve it to guests at YOUR next holiday party. Merry Christmas! And Happy Dipping!