dip Archives | butter loves company

the springiest snack spread

March 29, 2019 by Butter Loves Company

Spring is HERE! Thank goodness, amirite? I don’t care if winter coats are still necessary in New York, as soon at Daylight Savings hit and the temperatures rose above 50 degrees, I decided I would force warm weather feels in the kitchen. Bring on all the fresh herbs, veggies, and spring appetizer recipes.

One of my favorite things to do during the summer months is to take out a cheese board around 5 or 6 pm, when the sun is angling down to bless us with golden hour, opening a crisp bottle of wine, and put out a snack board for a pre-dinner bite.

We’ll nibble on all the juicy produce, savory cheese, and always, always, something salted and crunchy, like Harvest Snaps. I’m kicking off spring with this snack board filled with a super herb-filled green goddess dip (we’re talking dill, parsley, mint, basil and more), crispy greens like blanched asparagus and sliced cucumbers, rounded out with cheesy Harvest Snaps in their Parmesan Roasted Garlic and White Cheddar Flavors because, duh, a cheesy snack is destined for your snack board. I love that all the items on this board feel like wholesome options for starting the season.

This is the type of snack board you could pack up into little bags and take with you on a picnic in the park or put together really quickly for a last-minute plate to bring to a friend’s house. You can customize it with whatever dip or veggies you prefer, and Harvest Snaps also have so many flavors so you could try out a different one to mix it up!

Harvest Snaps are made from wholesome green peas, red lentils or black beans. Quick tip: if you are looking for Harvest Snaps in your grocery store, mosey over to the produce section and that’s where they’ll be. Find them near you here!

Happy Spring loves!

The Springiest Snack Spread

Ingredients

Green Goddess Dip (adapted from New York Times):

1/2 cup fresh dill
1/2 cup fresh mint
1/2 cup fresh parsley
1/3 cup fresh basil
1 garlic clove
2 scallions, white and green parts
Juice of one lemon
Pinch kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise, optional

Celery Sticks

Sliced Cucumber

Green Grapes

Blanched Asparagus

Harvest Snaps in your favorite flavor (I used Parmesan Roasted Garlic and White Cheddar)

Instructions

In the bowl of a food processor, add all of the ingredients for the Green Goddess Dip, and pulse until blended into a nearly smooth puree. Scrape into a small serving bowl.
On a medium flat platter, place the dip bowl on one side of the plate. Add the celery sticks, grapes, and cheese slices in clusters, saving a spot for crackers or Harvest Snaps. At this point you can refrigerate until close to serving time.
When ready to serve, remove from the fridge and add the Harvest Snaps. Serve!

Thank you to Harvest Snaps for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are my own.

brown butter cookie dough dip

August 21, 2015 by Butter Loves Company

This brown butter cookie dough dip brings me right back to slumber parties as a kid and one of my greatest culinary triumphs…But I’ll get to that in a minute. During these epic sleepovers, my friends and I would watch scary movies, eat junk food, and film ourselves quoting our favorite movies and making comedy sketches with a camcorder the size of an toaster oven.

Our ‘short films’ were essentially all bloopers. We would watch the tapes back and howl into the early morning about how off our attempted-British accents were. We would write embarrassing things in journals (that I still have, thank goodness!) and mastered our ‘pretending to be asleep’ skills when my parents would tell us to go to bed. Sound familiar to anyone?

We were 90’s kids with no cell phones, limited Internet, and wild imaginations that led us to some great ideas. In my opinion, the most impressive idea we had (Here’s the promised culinary triumph.) was to dip chocolate bars into tubs of frosting. Yes, you read that right. And yes, we did it. We were living the life!

The minute I saw that cookie dough dip was a thing, I was transported right back to those frosting dip nights. Just as chocolate bars dipped in buttercream was, cookies dipped in cookie dough dip is decadence to the core: creamy, sweet, and (if you do it like I do) sprinkled with crunchy chocolate chips and buttery toffee bits. Whether you choose to serve this with cookies, graham crackers, sliced apples, or chocolate bars—for old times’ sake—there is no question that this dip is a perfect party treat.

To up the flavor profile, we’re browning the butter in this recipe first. It’s going to add a little more nutty, caramelized flavor to the entire dip. Is it obvious that I love brown butter? (See: brown butter cinnamon sugar pull apart bread and brown butter banana bread).

Anyways, if you start making this cookie dough dip now, you can have this dip on your table in 20 minutes. Just in time for the festivities you may have in store this weekend. How easy is that?

Party perfect brown butter cookie dough dip: creamy, sweet, and sprinkled with crunchy chocolate chips and buttery toffee bits. Serve with cookies, graham crackers, sliced apples!

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warm, lemony crab dip

November 18, 2014 by Butter Loves Company

Circa late-fall 2002, I was preparing to put on my first ‘cocktail party.’ I was around 15 years old and the ‘cocktail’ menu consisted of childhood staples such as Sunny Delight, Arizona Iced Tea and Surge—the seemingly radioactive green soda that was later banned due to its high caffeine content. I flipped through my mom’s copy of the cookbook, Finger Foods, marking up every page that jumped out at me as perfect for my teen attendees. I most definitely went through an entire stack of Post-its. What can I say? I’m a sucker for bite-sized foods and vehicles for consuming bread.

Flash forward to a few weeks ago, I was planning for another cocktail party—this time for adults—and once again scanned my mom’s cookbook wall for inspiration. The same blue Post-its that were stuck on during the Fall of 2002 jutted out of Finger Foods. Turns out, I hadn’t made all 200 recipes I had marked for that ‘cocktail party’ years ago (shocker). Among those that didn’t make the initial cut was this warm, lemony crab dip. Because crab may very well be the queen of the cocktail party, I decided to test the recipe. I added more crab than the recipe called for because I’m always disappointed by wimpy dips. Oh boy, was it just the perfect bread topper in all its warm, creamy, savory, lump crab-filled glory. Chopped tarragon added a sophisticated can’t-put-my-finger-on-it complement to the citrus and a pinch of cayenne enhanced the creaminess of the heavy base with just enough heat.

Now, my cocktail party attendees must be scratching their heads because they didn’t see this dip last Saturday. It passed the test run with rave reviews and I promise it was absent only because the table had hit its dip quota. Don’t worry though because Finger Foods is still on the kitchen shelf for next time; a Post-it marked “delicious” sticking out of page 17.

warm, lemony crab dip
adapted from Bay Book’s Finger Foods

prep time: 20 minutes
cook time: 20 minutes
total time: 40–45 minutes
makes 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients:

1/3 cup unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 shallots, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup heavy cream
2/3 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
14-oz. lump crabmeat (drained if using canned)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
3 teaspoons chopped, fresh tarragon
3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs (I used Panko)
1 tablespoon chopped, fresh parsley

Instructions:

Center a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Grab a small baking dish out and set it aside for later (must fit 2 1/2 cups).
Melt half the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallots to the saucepan and cook until just softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the mustard powder, cayenne, and whipping cream. Bring to a simmer and slowly whisk in the cream cheese, a little bit at a time. When the cream cheese is completely incorporated, whisk in the cheddar and stir constantly over very low heat until smooth, about 1–2 minutes. Remove from heat and add in the crabmeat, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and 2 teaspoons of the tarragon. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir well and then transfer into your small baking dish.
Melt the remaining butter in the microwave in a separate small microwave safe bowl. Add the breadcrumbs, chopped parsley, and remaining tarragon, and stir until combined. Sprinkle over the crab mixture and bake for 15–20 minutes or until bubbling and golden. Serve warm with toasted bread or crackers.