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When it comes to holiday party recipes, I often find myself sticking to the tried and true favorites that we serve every year. This year I decided to "spice"things up a bit and try a few recipes outside of our usual cheese plate, veggie tray and salsa routine. In planing ahead for our annual Christmas party, I decided to use our Friendsgiving get together as the test run for some new appetizers.
There was a large, football watching, beer drinking, male heavy crowd at Friendsgiving and so this Chipotle dip made with Tabasco sauce was the perfect thing to serve. I grabbed an assortment of Tabasco sauces while at Target last week and chose the Chipotle version to use in my dip. While Justin always keeps Tabasco sauce in the fridge as a condiment, I had never really cooked with it so I decided to adapt one of our favorite cheese dips yet again.
This Swiss Cheese Bread Dip is a family favorite that originally comes from the kitchen of my pseudo-aunt Nancy Jane. My family would riot if it wasn't served at our Christmas party each year but I get tired of serving the same appetizers over and over again. This year I will be serving its spicier, older cousin- Chipotle Cheese Dip.
I tweaked the original recipe by adding some chives, some Tabasco Chipotle sauce, and swapping out the Swiss cheese for Pepper Jack. Top the finished dip with an extra drizzle of Tabasco and some chives and you have a very festive looking Christmas dip. My Friendsgiving guinea pigs destroyed this dip. In fact, we served one half of the dip when the football game started and I had to refill it with the second part of the recipe before the first quarter had even ended.
The smokey flavor of the Tabasco was complimented perfectly by the creaminess of the cheese and mayo and the chives added the perfect amount of flavor. What's great about this dish is that you can adjust the amount (and flavor variety) of the Tabasco sauce depending on how adventurous your party goers are. The girls in our group felt that the 1/2 tablespoon in the dip and the extra 1/2 tablespoon I used on top of it was just perfect but many of the men felt it could have been kicked up a notch.
This dip was such a hit at Friendsgiving that it is definitely going to be on the appetizer menu at our upcoming annual Christmas party. And I have a feeling I may be making a double batch just in case.
Cheesy Chipotle Dip
- 8 oz.cream cheese (softened)
- 3/4 cup of mayonnaise
- 2 cups of shredded Pepper Jack Cheese
- 1 tablespoon of finely sliced chives
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of Tabasco Chipotle Sauce
- Chips, crackers and/or veggies to serve it with
1.) Mix together the cream cheese, mayo, shredded cheese, chives and 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of the Chipotle Tabasco (this can vary depending on how much heat you and your guests prefer)
2.) Place mixture in an oven safe dish (I usually split mine up into two different servings). I drizzled another half tablespoon of Tabasco over mine before I baked it and it looked (and tasted) amazing.
3.) Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until the dip is bubbling and browned around the edges.
4.) Top with a few extra chives for decoration and serve warm with chips, crackers, and veggies.