Dip w/ Serranos & Cream Cheese

I'm a big fan of cheesecakes. Every year around my birthday, I inevitably make myself a cheesecake. Which means that I go to Costco and have copious amounts cream cheese. And I either have to make an enormous amount of cheesecake or I have to find something else to do with cream cheese! I managed to do both this year... Although cream cheese is the mayonnaise of our generation. But it has left me today with a craving for cheese deep and an enormous amount of cream cheese. So, I'm tossing everything into a pot with some serrano peppers and making a spicy cheese dip! Which may inevitably make itself onto a plate of nachos or maybe as the base for a macaroni and cheese... Although that is a culinary escapade for tomorrow! For now, I'm just going to break out some chips and revel in my cream cheese dip creation.

Gallery

Variations of Cream Cheese Dip

I generally think of cheese dips as being kind of a lazy day meal. It's not an entire dish. It's more of a snack for game nights. Although that's no excuse for them to be boring! If I'm going to make a cheese dip, it's going to be an absolutely delicious cheese dip full of everything that I can manage to pack into it. Preferably in a process that only takes about 15 minutes. After all, it's a lot more fun than trying to figure out what exactly to do with velveeta and a can of something that may or may not contain actual food. As well as a great way to utilize whatever cheese or produce that's been sitting in your refrigerator.

Dip w/ Sour Cream, Cream Cheese, & Serranos

Dip w/ Sour Cream, Cream Cheese, & Serranos

This Cream Cheese Dip consists of cheddar cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, onion, serranos, garlic, and tomatoes all mixed together with cumin, coriander, chili powder, salt, and pepper in a saucepan until creamy.
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Side Dish
Cuisine American
Servings 8 servings

Equipment

  • Saucepan
  • Cheese Grater
  • Stovetop

Ingredients
  

  • 10 oz. cheddar cheese (~1 ½ c.)
  • 8 oz. cream cheese (1 package)
  • 1 c. sour cream
  • 1/3 yellow onion diced
  • 2 serranos minced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 small tomatoes finely diced
  • dash cumin
  • dash coriander
  • dash chili powder
  • dash salt
  • dash pepper

Instructions
 

  • Add all of the ingredients to a saucepan and simmer on medium-low for about 20 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened enough to serve. Stir constantly.
  • Serve immediately with chips, bread, apples, and/or other dips of choice.

Tips, Tricks, & Notes

  • It is possible to reconstitute cheese sauces after it re-solidifies at room temperature. Just keep it at a long temperature, stir constantly, and slowly bring up the heat. Bringing up the heat too quickly can cause the cheese to separate and you may need to add a bit more sour cream if the sauce is too thick at this point.

This Page Contains Edited Images

As a general rule, I don't like to edit images. Food styling, editing, alteration, and even faking entirely is just as rampant a problem in the recipe realm. Cooking is a very visual art and you can tell when a lot of foods are cooked based on the color. So, when this is altered and you can't use the coloration as a gauge, it makes it quite difficult to follow some recipes. I have an entire article about Food Styling and Unrealistic Expectations of Recipes. My place has very warm lighting, though. So, sometimes my camera overcompensates and ends up with an unnatural hues. I've adjusted the hues, levels, and/or cropped the following images:

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