Fun Fridays: Cheesecake Dip

You are going to either love me or hate me for this recipe, because it is some kinda good! Every month the ladies at church get together for a "Girls Night Out", usually at someone's house. We're all encouraged to bring a snack to share, and last night was our big night for August. I was in a cheesecake mood, but I didn't want the hassle of dealing with plates and forks. Hence, my cheesecake dip was born!

This recipe is for a citrus cheesecake dip, meaning lemons, oranges, or limes. If you prefer you can leave the citrus out and make it a plain cheesecake dip.


Cheesecake Dip

1 pkg. Neufatel cheese (which is the cream cheese with 1/3 less fat)
1/2 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon or lime juice
1-2 tsp. zest from either a lemon, orange, or lime (optional, but worth the extra effort!)
1 1/4 c. light cool whip

With a mixer,
beat cream cheese and sugar together in a medium bowl. Add lemon or lime juice and lemon/orange/lime zest and mix for an additional minute to make sure the sugar is completely dissolved.

With a spoon,
stir in the cream cheese. Serve with graham cracker squares (honey, not cinnamon) and try not to overdose!

To get the "zest" from a piece of fruit:
This is not as hard as I used to think it was. Most of us have one of those square cheese graters sitting around. If you're like me, you only use one side of the thing and wonder in the world those other sides are used for. One day I was at the dentist and they had the food channel on (go figure!) and I saw the chef use one of those other sides to get the zest from a lemon. Ahh... so that's how you do it! I didn't have a lemon on hand, so I used an orange for the dip (pictured here). Wash the fruit, and then rub in a circular pattern it on the side of the grater that looks like it would cause the most damage.

Once you've gotten most of the colored part of the peel off, you're just about done. All you need to do now is brush as much of the zest off the grater as you can so you can use it, too. Add it to whatever you're cooking, and you'll be surprised at the flavor it adds!