Super Sharp Beer Cheese Dip

Beer, cheese and fried onions? Sounds like a trifecta of football food to me! If you like bold, in your face flavors like sharp cheddar, tangy Dijon, and bitter hoppy beer, then this ooey, goey dip is for you.

As I touched on in my NYE post, my husband has been nudging me to get creative in the kitchen using some of his favorite beers. Because well, why not?! Food is good, beer is good, and in the words of Jack Johnson some things are just better together.

With the Superbowl just around the corner, I thought what a perfect time to make a decadent warm cheese dip to indulge in while watching the game – OK let’s be honest I will be focused on the commercials 😉 Now onto the dip….

Here are our game players: Gouda, extra sharp white cheddar, and cream cheese. Plus Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce and fried onions (which I forgot to add in the picture – oops). And we can’t forget the BEER – I used one of my husbands favorite brews – 471 Small Batch IPA from Breckenridge Brewery in Colorado. It has some seriously intense flavors which helps to balance the assertive flavors from the cheeses.

First things first – you need to grate your cheese. This is pretty much the most important step because you really have to use block cheese and grate or shred it yourself. You’re probably asking why? Why more work? I’m sorry, really I am, but pre-shredded cheese has a variety of drying agents mixed in to prevent it from clumping together and those additives just don’t melt too well when added to a liquid such as, you guessed it, beer. You can hand grate or use a food processor.

The food processor is the quickest method – this took me about 30 seconds……

Next add the room temperature cream cheese to the base of your stand mixer; or if you don’t have one, use a large mixing bowl. Add in some beer, dijon, Worchesterchie sauce and sea salt.  If you love dijon use the full 2 Tablespoons, if you don’t love it so much, scaled back to 1 Tablespoon. Mix on medium speed until well combined. It’s OK if there are a few small lumps of cream cheese, those will melt in the oven.

Next add in all of the shredded cheese and mix until thoroughly incorporated.

Now it would be a totally delicious dip just like this….BUT what takes it
over the edge is adding in crispy fried onions.  I used Trader Joe’s onion pieces, but you can use any brand.

Mix it all in and then spread into a small baking dish. I like to use a small one so that the dip mounds up and looks all bubbly brown and delicious when it comes out of the oven. You could use a pie pan, a Pyrex, really anything that will hold it. Then place the dish on a baking sheet and pop that bad boy in a preheated 400 degree oven.

25 minutes later you will have a beautiful dish full of sharp punchy flavors that will have you reaching for a beer and heading for a comfy spot on the couch….to watch football commercials.

[recipe id=”1070″]