I made these dips the other night as part of a “snacky” dinner in our house. Every once in a while we have veggies, crackers, cheese and a couple dips while we are having a movie night or playing a game together. We were playing “Apples to Apples” the Disney set while having our snacky dinner on this night. My kids love this game. We have several times thought of upgrading to the regular game but we love Disney so much this is perfect for us!

When everyone had a taste of both dips, which are VERY different, I asked what everyone thought of the dips. My daughter and partner loved the Pickle Dip and liked the Hot Sausage Dip while my son and I loved the Hot Sausage Dip and liked the Pickle Dip. It is all a matter of what kind of  taste you really like.

When I first heard about pickles, cream cheese and ham as an appetizer I thought it sounded completely disgusting. I like pickles. I like cream cheese. I love ham. But, all three together? Ewww. Then, I tasted it. It was surprisingly delicious. But, then I thought about spread cream cheese on all the ham slices and then wrapping them around pickles and slicing them thin. Too much work for me.

Then someone mentioned making it into a dip. Brilliant! I found several recipes online but they all seemed out of proportion with the amount of cream cheese and sour cream to the amount of meat and pickles I wanted in my dip so I started experimenting. This dip seemed to hit the spot!

Now, the Hot Sausage Dip didn’t look as pretty as the Pickle Dip but I thought it had really great flavor. It was warming to the insides with just a bit of heat on the tongue. My son wants to make it again with more hot sauce.

Verdict:

It was a split decision. It all depends on if you want the tangy, slightly sharp, dill taste of the Pickle Dip which paired well with Wheat Thins and plain crackers or the warm, comforting heat of the Hot Sausage Dip which paired well with baguette toasts, corn chips or plain crackers.  Both dips would make any group happy.

Ingredients:

Pickle Dip:

• 16 oz jar of dill pickles, diced into small pieces
• 2 (8 oz) block of cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup sour cream
• 4 (2 oz) packages of Buddig, or similar,dried beef, cut into small squares
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder, or more to taste
• 1 tablespoon pickle juice, if needed to smooth out the dip

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mix cream cheese and sour cream until smooth.
2. Stir in chopped pickles, meat and garlic powder. Stir until well combined. Taste and adjust spices as needed to suit your tastes.
3. If dip is too thick add pickle juice to thin.

Ingredients:

Hot Sausage Dip:

• 1 pound hot Italian sausage, removed from casings
• 1 (8oz) block cream cheese, softened
• 1 tablespoon + Frank’s Hot Sauce
• 1 (10 oz) can tomatoes with green chiles
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
• dash of black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease medium casserole dish with non-stick spray. I use an oval 3 qt.
2. Cook sausage in a skillet over medium heat. Break the sausage into small pieces as it cooks. Remove sausage from pan and place the sausage on paper towels to absorb any extra grease from the meat.
3. In a bowl mix cream cheese, cooked sausage, hot sauce, tomatoes with chiles (do not drain), cheddar cheese and black pepper until well combined. Taste and adjust spices as needed, my son wanted tons of hot sauce and black pepper (spicy!).
4. Spread dip into casserole dish and place in oven for 30-40 minutes until heated through.
5. Remove from oven and serve warm.