My only experience with cranberries was that can-shaped jello substance that was on our Thanksgiving table each year. Oh, how deprived I was! Making homemade cranberry sauce is one of the easiest things to make and it’s much more delicious when it’s fresh. Did you know you can make perfect cranberry sauce at home every time? All you need for a basic cranberry sauce is cranberries, water, sugar, and a little bit of fruit juice. You can use juice from a lime, lemon or an orange (whichever you have on hand) and even grate fresh zest in the sauce for extra flavor.
This homemade cranberry sauce is kicked up a notch with jalapeños. The sweet and spicy cranberry and jalapeño combination over naturally salty feta cheese makes for the perfect holiday dip.
Don’t let the jalapeños in this recipe scare you. If you don’t like spicy foods, de-seed and de-vein the jalapeños, but I recommend keeping it on the spicy side because the sweetness from the cranberries and sugar really offset the heat level. I first tried this recipe with 1/2 cup of diced, de-seeded jalapeños and it just wasn’t enough heat. After that, I doubled the jalapeños and it was just right.
Now that we’ve talked all about cranberry sauce, we can’t forget an equally important part of this recipe: feta cheese. Feta cheese is one of my favorite foods and I always use Litehouse® Simply Artisan feta cheese of course! Did you know you can whip it? Whipped feta is simply feta cheese beaten with a mixer until smooth. The feta still has the same great taste, it’s just whipped into an easily spreadable consistency! I would recommend started with feta that has been brought to room temperature. You might find that you will need to add a few tablespoons of water to take the feta to a smoother consistency.
All you need is 5 simple ingredients for this easy holiday appetizer of Cranberry and Jalapeño Sauce with Whipped Feta Cracker Dip! You can use sprigs of fresh rosemary or sage for a Christmas color theme which makes a beautiful presentation to impress guests. It will surely Holidazzle!