Yes, you could snack on cheese cubes while watching football or the Oscars. But you could also take that same cheese and make a more metamorphic change: Add spices, herbs, and vegetables, then blend or melt or beer-spike into a dip that's creamy, scoopable, and at home on a variety of "dippers," from tortilla chips to carrot sticks. Choose your cheesiest dip below, then prepare or purchase any accompaniments as you see fit.
• Prep time 10 minutes • Serves 6 to 8 Author Notes This flavorful dip is an amalgam of Eastern Mediterranean flavors—dill and salty feta softened with bright green pistachios, which add texture as well as flavor. It's good plain on bread, smeared on a plate underneath warm beets, or with raw vegetables …
• Serves 4 Author Notes Adapted from a recipe in Around the Fire: Recipes for Inspired Grilling and Seasonal Feasting from Ox Restaurant by Greg Denton, Gabrielle Quiñónez Denton, and Stacy Adimando (Ten Speed Press, 2016). —Ali Slagle For the mushroom confit: • 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil • 1/2 teaspoon …
• Prep time 3 hours 10 minutes • Makes 1 1/2 to 2 cups Author Notes Make this sauce at your own risk: It's smoky, tart flavor is absolutely addictive, and once you try it, it'll be hard to stop smothering your veggies, burritos, nachos, baked potatoes, and salads. It's your new favorite cheese sauce, …
• Prep time 20 minutes • Cook time 15 minutes • Serves 4 to 6 Author Notes Typically when I enter a recipe for Food52, I make it, tweak it, and take it's picture before I post it. I have made this so often though that I can type it up without making it right now, though if time allows I will later in the …
• Prep time 35 minutes • Serves 12 as dip or 6 as sandwiches Author Notes Pimento cheese is, at its core, nothing but tufts of unmelted cheese, a cushion of mayonnaise, and chopped pimentos. Stir together a batch to keep it in the fridge all week -- to stuff in brown-bag sandwiches, on your favorite …
• Prep time 40 minutes • Cook time 20 minutes • Makes 1 pint Author Notes While I never had a real fast food worker experience as a kid, I did work for several years at the local movie theater, where in addition to an exorbitant amount of popcorn, we made a lot of movie theater nachos. You know the kind with …
• Prep time 5 minutes • Cook time 15 minutes • Makes 1 block of feta Author Notes Keep leftovers from this party fave in your fridge overnight; just pop the dish back into the oven to re-soften the cheese the next day. —Kendra Vaculin 1/4 cup tomato sauce, homemade or store-bought (a teeny amount! so the …
• Makes 8 to 10 pretzels Author Notes Growing up, soft pretzels were one of the few junk foods my siblings and I were allowed to eat. This homemade variation is a variation of my mother's recipe, paired with the Kentuckian classic, beer cheese. I recommend letting the cheese warm to room temperature …
• Serves 2 to 3 people Author Notes This dish is my once a year holiday treat, and best enjoyed with a group and a little cider or white wine. —eatboutique 1 Camembert cheese in a round wood box • 2 tablespoons Calvados (apple brandy) • 1 baguette (or any bread you like dipped in cheese) • 2 endive (or any …
• Prep time 20 minutes • Cook time 25 minutes • Makes 1 batch Author Notes How to make classic spinach-artichoke dip even better? Use just as much cheddar as cream cheese, add a dollop of tangy Dijon, and broil right before serving for a bubbly, blistered crust. Oh, and crackers are a must—but you knew that …
• Serves a crowd Author Notes We usually stick pumpkin at the end of the meal, in the form of pie. But my recipe for Pumpkin Spice Cashew Cheese Dip brings pumpkin to the head of the table. Place a large warm pot of this stuff on your coffee table surround it by fresh chopped veggies, crackers and …
• Cook time 12 minutes • Serves 8 or more as an appetizer Author Notes This is the crowd-pleasing skillet dip I make when I’m having a big gathering and can’t be bothered with anything fussier. It draws inspiration from baked cheeses everywhere—hi, hello honey-baked brie, queso fundido, and broiled feta. …
• Prep time 5 minutes • Serves 6 to 8 Author Notes I don't think I'd be wrong in declaring that cream cheese makes everything more desirable. Whipped into an ethereally airy mass, sweetened lightly, and served alongside skewered fruit for dipping—I’m not sure there exists a most perfect, fun dessert out …
• Prep time 1 hour 10 minutes • Makes 2 cups Author Notes Excerpted with permission from Dorie Greenspan's Everyday Dorie: Take a peek in my fridge, and you’ll find the usual staples—milk, butter, eggs and yogurt, and my favorite plus-one: “ricotta spoonable.” I started making it years ago and I’ve …
• Serves 4 Author Notes Comes from the Canton de Fribourg, in Switzerland, home of the Gruyere and Vacherin Cheeses. Most people have tried to innovate, modify, change or alter this simple and traditional fondue... They have all failed. In failing to stick to the basics... they tried to kill the …
• Prep time 2 hours • Serves a crowd Author Notes This one-bowl cheese spread is like wine and cheese tasting in one easy, cheesy dip! The party-starter spread can be served simply alongside store-bought crackers and crudite or can be made a little fancier by schmearing crostini and topping it off with …
• Prep time 10 minutes • Makes 1 bowl Author Notes Perfect for backyard summer BBQs or last-minute picnics, this easy beer cheese recipe makes a fast—and tasty—appetizer or snack. All you need to do ahead of time (at least an hour) is let the beer come up to room temperature so it blends nice and smoothly …
• Serves 2 cups Author Notes When I attended undergrad at SUNY Binghamton, there was a cafe housed inside an old garage, The Lost Dog Cafe. We would sit there for too many hours and drink coffee beverages with cute names like "The Girl Scout" and snack on the inspiration for this Peppadew Dip. I don't …
