Cheese Dips - great for holiday entertaining

Cheese dips easy to make. If you have the ingredients on hand, you can quickly make up a selection for fun holiday entertaining.

Dips are great for any sort of social gathering, since they lend themselves to finger foods that are easy to serve and make. A big bowl of dip also creates the fun and closeness that can come from communal eating. There are many different kinds of dips, but one of the most popular at parties is the cheese dip. Because there are so many variations on cheese, you can make many different kinds of cheese dips, hot or chilled, using sharp or mild cheese, on its own or with other seasonings mixed in. There are a number of kinds of cheese dips you might serve at your party.

A French-Swiss Mix

Fondue is a dip that gained popularity in the United States in the 1970’s. This distinctive cheese dip consists of a heated pot of cheese into which people dip forks of bread and other foods. The tradition of fondue came from people in the Swiss Alps, who were simply trying to find a way to make stale cheese edible again. They found out that melting it made it easy to eat, and the tradition of fondue was born. The communal fondue pot makes it a great cheese dip for small social gatherings, or as an appetizer before a meal.

Mexican Variants

Similar to the fondue tradition, the Tex-Mex style brings us another melted cheese dip, chili con queso. Rather than consisting simply of melted cheese, this dip often has diced tomatoes and peppers included. In many Mexican restaurants, you can have this dish served with tortilla chips, and it also makes a great dip for soft tacos and other foods. This particular cheese dip has led to a popular variation, in which the dip is actually poured over the tortilla chips, and then garnished with beef, tomatoes, olives and jalapeño peppers. This is the popular snack food that’s featured everywhere from school cafeterias to movie theaters, nachos.

Blended Dips

Not all cheese dips need to be hot to make a tasty dip. Some soft cheeses, such as cream cheese, lend themselves well to being blended with other ingredients and served at room temperature. The variations on this sort of dip can be pretty endless, from simple things such as adding a little hot sauce to cream cheese, to adding bits of vegetables, like broccoli or spinach. One great serving suggestion for these sorts of cheese dips is to hollow out a round of bread and use it as the bowl for your cheese dip, saving the removed bread for dipping. But whether you try this sort of cheese dip, or one of the many other variations, including some at your next gathering will be sure to be a hit.