Baked Cranberry Thyme Cheese Dip
This cheese dip is the perfect appetizer for Thanksgiving, but it is festive enough for the entire holiday season. You can use either shredded swiss cheese for a milder flavor or shredded gruyere for stronger cheese flavor. The cranberry sauce swirled throughout cuts the richness of the cheese sauce and the thyme brings that traditional herb flavor for the season. I would serve this with a variety of dippers. Crunchy rosemary breadsticks, crackers and crostini feel right to me but you could also serve it with sliced baguette or sourdough for dipping as well. Add in a small tray of pickles and olives and a glass of prosecco, and I would call that done. I could even call that dinner? Especially when shared with a few others but serve it as an appetizer for your party crowd and they will have a nice combination of carbs, fat, salt and pickle to keep them happy until the main event is served. You could make it ahead and bake it off the day of. I suggest broiling for the last 2 minutes of cooking to get that browned cheese crust on top.
Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp AP flour
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cup shredded swiss or gruyere cheese
1 tbsp dried or fresh thyme
4-5 tbsp cranberry sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Recipe:
Preheat the oven to 375 F. Add the butter and flour to a sauce pot. Whisk them vigorously over medium heat to make a roux. Allow this to cook while whisking for a minute or so to cook off the raw flour flavor. Then pour in the milk and continue to whisk to combine.
Cook the white sauce on medium low for a few minutes to allow it to thicken. Then add in the thyme and the shredded cheese. Conitnue whisking to melt the cheese into the sauce.
Once the sauce is thick and homogenous, taste it for salt and pepper. I like to use herb salt here, but you can use sea salt. I will salt at this point to allow for the use of salted butter or a saltier cheese like gruyere. So taste the sauce and salt to your taste, add ground pepper and turn off the heat.
Pour the sauce into a small over safe serving dish. Dollop the cranberry sauce on top and then swirl in by taking a knife and making a spiral from outer rim of the dish to the middle. Top with a little more cheese and bake for about 12-15 minutes until golden brown on top. For extra browning on top, broil for about 2 minutes at the end of cooking.
