Cheatsgiving Recipe Contest: Warm Pecan and Cranberry Brie Dip
This recipe is an entry in our Cheatsgiving Easy Recipe Contest. It comes to us from reader Alane R. Voting begins 11/21!
I have that problem where I want my Thanksgiving to look positively Pinteresting, but I don’t actually want to do any real work to make that happen. I also want my food to be interesting and look impressive, but again, without any effort. So basically, I’m a terrible and high-maintenance person when it comes to holidays. I’m sorry. We’ll see how that goes this year, though. I’m hosting, and given that I have two children under two years old, I’m pretty sure I’ll consider it a success if we make it through the day with only one meltdown per individual.
This is a stupid simple appetizer that sounds, looks, and tastes fancy. And you make it in the crock pot, freeing up oven and stove space as well as making it nearly impossible to screw up. It’s perfect for a party, and also for sitting on your couch by yourself in yoga pants on a Friday night with a glass of wine while binge-watching 30 Rock. That happened to a friend.
Ingredients:
One round of Brie cheese. From the fancy-ass part of the grocery store because you’re an adult.
1/3 cup candied pecans
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Directions:
1. Procure tiny crock pot. Mine is 1.5 gallons and it works beautifully. If you don’t have one, you can use a bowl placed inside a larger crock pot, though you will have to increase the cooking time if you do this.
2. Put the whole round of cheese in the bottom of the crock pot. Use a fork to squish it so it covers the bottom of the bowl.
3. Chop pecans and cranberries. (Or don’t.) Dump them on the cheese, making sure they make a somewhat even layer.
4. Cook for 4 hours on low heat, or two hours on high.
All done! Eat on sliced granny Smith apples or on crackers. (Get nice crackers though. It’s Thanksgiving. Get the nice crackers.)
(Photo: Shutterstock)