Amazing holiday dessert dip to share with your family around the Christmas tree. It’s a warm and smooth white chocolate dip made with a hint of peppermint.
Every family has holiday traditions and I have one that is very important to me. I believe that it’s holiday traditions that makes this time of year special. Something meaningful that you do with your family (or by yourself) this one time a year and look forward to every time. I have one of those traditions that I will share today.
Every year, I get to bring my sister home with me for the the weekend, right after our Thanksgiving dinner. My baby sister’s birthday falls right around (or on) Thanksgiving Day and it was always our special birthday celebration. But we don’t just celebrate her birthday the entire weekend, we also have a family holiday of our own.
We basically re-invented Black Friday from buying-as-much-and-as-cheap-as-possible-while-clibming-over-and-elbowing-the-crowd-at-the-department-store-holiday to a decorating-with-kids-while-baking-and-watching-Christmas-movies-holiday.
It started many years ago, when I took baby girl home with me after Thanksgiving because I had a special birthday treat planned for her. On that Friday, we couldn’t actually do much because it was a mad house outside. Let me explain, I live literally across the street from (at that time) the biggest mall in the city and right behind Target, Best Buy and Bed Bath & Beyond. Get the picture?
Yes, we quite literally could not get out of my apartment complex and onto the main road because of the traffic. So we decided to stay home and celebrate on Saturday. While we were home, we thought we’d decorate the tree. With decorating the Christmas tree came baking cookies and watching Christmas movies. Our tradition was born and now we do that exact thing every year.
Last year, I made a special treat for the kiddos that they just loved, a little too much perhaps, because I ended up making more. I also kept hearing about it from my baby girl the entire year. I made my Peppermint White Chocolate Hot Cocoa.
This year, I surprised her with this awesome dip and I swear, we all fell over from deliciousness after the first bite. It really is a special holiday treat and what makes it even more special, is that you can get kids to help you make it. They seem to like treats so much more when they help making it.
My sister’s favorite part about coming home with me for our special weekend might be the treats and the Christmas tree, but my favorite part is baking with her and teaching her to bake and cook. I have my son with me in the kitchen almost every day.
He loves watching how everything gets cooked, especially if he gets to help whisk or add ingredients into the mixer. I don’t have that much time with my baby girl so I really enjoy the few times a year when I get to spend time in the kitchen with her. Those are the memories and special recipes that all three of us will remember forever. Some day, they will be making the recipes that we created with their kids.
To me, time spend with my kiddos in the kitchen is very important. Cooking is something that I’m very passionate about and this is a way for me to share my passion and love for food with my kids. Not to mention that I also teach them how to cook and that is quite a useful skill to have in life.
…And now that we are all emotional, lets fill up on some chocolate!…
Hot White Chocolate Peppermint Dip
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup Andes peppermint crunch to fold
- 2/3 cup crushed graham crackers
Instructions
- Beat cream cheese and vanilla extract for a couple of minutes, until smooth.
- Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave at half power for about a minute, stir and melt for additional 30 seconds, again on half the power. Repeat for 30 more seconds if needed, again on half power.
- Beat melted white chocolate and cream cheese until all combined.
- Fold in peppermint crunch and transfer into a baking dish. Top with crushed graham crackers and bake for 12-15 minutes.
- Recommended to serve with plain thin cracker crisps (no flavor). You will get the needed crunch without any additional sweetness from a cookie or flavored cracker.
Jessica says
I am not seeing what temperature you bake this at..?
kori says
Please advise brand/name of crackers… This sounds amazing and festive!!!
lyuba says
Hi Kori!
I think I used the Target organic brand, Archer’s Farm. They are thin, crisp and the ones with no flavoring.
Thank you!
kristi@ishouldbemoppingthefloor says
Oh good grief…this looks AMAZING!!
Carla says
Love the pictures and the story! Great job on a yummy treat!