Yesterday I gave you a great (and easy!) recipe for homemade cranberry sauce. So, today I thought I’d share another quick and easy holiday recipe that uses the cranberry sauce. After all, cranberry sauce can be a pretty versatile ingredient, and you don’t see too many “leftover cranberry sauce” recipes… Sure, it’s great to have recipes for leftover turkey and mashed potatoes, but I always seem to have cranberry sauce hanging out in the fridge for a week or two after Thanksgiving.
Last week, I saw all of these fantastic compound butters from Bluebonnets and Brownies, and I couldn’t get them out of my head. They are amazing. You need to check them out. The problem was, I was running a bit low on butter. That’s a serious situation at my house!
The one thing I had plenty of, though, was cream cheese. So, I decided to make some flavored cream cheese instead. Since I had some cranberry sauce hanging out in the fridge (the leftovers that didn’t fit in a jar when I was canning), I decided to make a honey cranberry flavored cream cheese with some extra flavor from a few of my favorite fall spices.
The cream cheese turned out beautifully. In my opinion, it had just the right amount of cranberry and spice, and it was slightly sweet, but not too sweet. After all, I like my cream cheese to taste like cream cheese, you know?
It was perfect slathered on a slice of toasted homemade bread (stay tuned for that recipe on Monday!), and I imagine that it would be divine on a bagel, too. I think it would be a perfect addition to a holiday brunch, or just a great way to use up some leftover cranberry sauce after your big Thanksgiving dinner.
Spiced Honey Cranberry Cream Cheese
(Makes about 1 cup)
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1 tablespoon cranberry sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Stir until well combined and smooth. Serve immediately or transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
This is totally brilliant, Jen!
OHHH Good idea! I’m doing this… what a great spread for my morning bagel.
This is simply perfect in every way. And, I cannot wait to try it to spread on bagels. Yummy!
Creamy cranberry goodness…oh my.
Yummm .. the creaminess of the cream cheese , tartness of cranberries, sweetness of honey – – sounds perfect
This cream cheese sounds amazing! I want it slathered on top of a pumpernickel bagel…yum!
This sounds fabulous! Perfect for this time of year.
I would absolutely eat this all up on a morning bagel, that is if it made it that long!
Isn’t this the easiest recipe you have ever encountered? It is, for me. Mix everything together and it is ready to serve. Fabulous post! I love easy and delicious treats…
What a lovely recipe for the holiday season: delicious and easy!
I am making cranberry-apple preserves and will give it a try!
I love this idea! Just pinned it to my Thanksgiving board. Now I really want a bagel with this slathered on top!!
Yum, thank you for the recipe! I’m thinking of putting it on a tortilla, adding some leftover turkey, lettuce & tomato and rolling it up. Sounds fantastic!
This is a great idea for leftover cranberry sauce!
First of all, thank you for the shout out! Secondly, oh Holy cream cheese, Batman! What a fantastic idea!
I’ve only recently really gotten into the idea of “compound cream cheese” – I bought honey nut cream cheese made by Philadelphia, and it is crazy good. I hadn’t yet ventured into the arena of making my own, and I’m kinda glad you beat me to it. You’re way smarter than I am, and I am all about cranberry sauce. But I never would have thought to put it in mah cream cheese. See? Way smarter.
What a great idea! I always, always have leftover cranberry sauce and usually end up throwing some away sadly.
A stroke of genius Jen!
This is a great way to use left over cranberries.