The 3-Ingredient Cream Cheese Dip I Make Basically Every Weekend of Fall (It Gets Devoured Within 10 Minutes!)

Years ago, I came across one of the most simple recipes that I thought was absolutely ingenious for early fall entertaining (which for me, let’s be real, means college football watch parties). I’m known among my friends for my love of cream cheese and always using it to serve up a fun concoction. If you come to my annual holiday party, it’s a guarantee that I’ll have a minimum of two baked cream cheese dips — they are the party! So I’m easily influenced by a clever cream cheese idea. 

When it’s still hot out and I don’t want to bake, I turn to this brilliantly easy dip that you can put out in minutes with basically zero prep: caramel cream cheese dip with apple slices. Keep the ingredients on hand and it can be whipped up in literally five minutes; the only prep is chopping pecans (if you’re using them) and slicing apples as dippers.

It almost seems silly writing out how to make this because it’s that simple. All you do is place a block of cream cheese on a plate or platter and drizzle it with caramel — you want the whole block covered. I use store-bought caramel but you could really impress and make homemade caramel sauce. Then surround the dip with your dippers: apples, pretzels, salty crackers, graham crackers, whatever sounds good.

You can call it an appetizer here, or level it up with a little crunch by topping with chopped pecans (which I do most of the time) or pretzels or toffee bits (now it’s really a proper dessert dip!). I’ve even seen people top theirs with white or semisweet chocolate chips, but that’s personally not for me; this dip is sweet enough as is. 

Is there anything cream cheese doesn’t pair well with? Caramel is no exception. This dip is sweet, don’t get me wrong, but with the crunch and nuttiness of the pecans and crisp tartness of the apples, it’s always a win. Pretzels go particularly well as a dipper too, as they’re so salty and help balance the caramel. It’s the perfect snack for the final days of summer and early days of fall when people are excited for apples, but you don’t particularly want to bake something in the oven. 

This year I’ll be making it on Labor Day for friends per usual, and then most weekends in September as tailgating snacks start to work their way into my Saturday routine. Looking for more brilliant cream cheese ideas? At The Kitchn we love turning a block into a two-ingredient appetizer with raspberry pepper jelly or mixing it up with a can of vegetarian chili like my sister does every 4th of July.

This article originally published at The Kitchn. See it there: The 3-Ingredient Cream Cheese Dip I Make Basically Every Weekend of Fall (It Gets Devoured Within 10 Minutes!)