Cranberry Cream Cheese Spread

After trying this cream cheese and cranberry spread, you will never look at cream cheese, the same way. It turns out that it’s for more than just slathering on the occasional bagel, it is the backbone of a delightful treat that you can serve as a snack or as a party appetizer. This cream cheese cranberry spread comes together in less than 10 minutes and looks as delightful as it tastes. Grab some of your favourite crackers and let’s make a tasty spread to slather over them.

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese
½ cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
½ cup dried apricots, finely chopped
1 tsp. orange zest, freshly grated

To Serve:
assorted crackers

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, cranberries, apricots and orange zest until blended. Chill until serving.

Serve with crackers.

Makes 1½ cups.

Cook's Notes:

• Cream Cheese: If desired, you can use reduced-fat cream cheese, as this recipe has so much flavour that you won’t notice the difference. But of course, regular cream cheese is just fine.
• Dried Cranberries: Take the time to chop the dried cranberries, otherwise they will not evenly mix into the spread.
• Dried Apricots: Same story with the dried apricots; they must be chopped into small bits to impart their flavour evenly throughout this spread.
• Orange Zest: Don’t use more than the recommended tsp. of orange zest, freshly grated, because citrus zest is powerful stuff, flavour-wise.
• Assorted Crackers: You can spread this cranberry cream cheese on any cracker you’d like, or pita chips or toasted bread
• Storage: Assuming the cream cheese you used was new, you can use its sell-by date as a reference. If the spread sat out long enough to reach room temperature, you should discard it. Not that you’ll have leftovers.

Variations:

• Skip the orange zest: Orange zest has a powerful flavour that not everyone likes, so leaving it out might make this cream cheese spread more universally enjoyed.
• Try it with dried cherries: If you don’t have dried cranberries on hand or if you love dried cherries, you can use those in this recipe.
• Add some nuts: Adding chopped walnuts will introduce a new flavour profile and texture.

Frequently Asked Questions:

• Would this cream cheese spread be good on a bagel? No, it would be fantastic on a bagel. You can and should by all means enjoy this sweet and tangy cranberry spread on your favourite breakfast bread.
• Can I make this spread ahead of time? By all means, you could make this cranberry cream cheese spread hours or even a couple of days before you plan to use it if you need to save time during party prep.
• Can you make this spread with fresh cranberries? Not for this recipe. They would introduce far too much moisture into the mix and would throw off the flavour and texture of the spread.

Nutritional Information:
2 Tbsp.: 76 calories, 4g fat (3g saturated fat), 13mg cholesterol, 84mg sodium, 9g carbohydrate (6g sugars, 1g fiber), 2g protein. Diabetic Exchanges: 1 fat, ½ starch.