Hardly healthy: Treat yourself with this ‘tolerable’ fruit dip
We’re in the thick of Halloween season, and since it started, candy has been everywhere.
When I’m passing out the treats to kids, I admit I rummage through the bowls and break myself a piece of a Kit Kat or indulge in a Twix.
Of course, I have a water bottle with me at all times, so that cancels out the sugar a little, right?
Didn’t think so.
Well, I’m here this week to share another hardly healthy snack that will at least help you incorporate fruit.
It’s some kind of fruit dip and just like my countless other recipes, there’s no real name that I know.
For as long as I’ve been alive and have had a memory, I’ve loved sweeter foods.
It’s surprising that when my mom would make this recipe growing up, I wouldn’t go near it. Something about it tasted a little too sweet.
Food to me should be fun and experimental.
Mixing savory with sweet is fun, and learning which acids
and leavening agents are best for dishes and confections is also
fun.
Even though I didn’t like chemistry growing up, it’s not too bad now.
It wasn’t until I was an adult, hovering around 30, that I decided to make this sweet fruit dip to take to work.
I was working on a management team at a suit store.
One thing we did well there — we always made a big deal about holidays and birthdays. We broke bread together, a lot.
We fussed over long shifts, too, especially on Saturdays when busloads of people would come to shop the stores at the outside mall.
There was never time to break away and grab lunch, so we would brainstorm these amazing feasts, eventually bringing in the neighbors from the business next door. A few times, even our favorite regular clients joined in.
We all loved our sweets, too.
I made this dip, and it was a hit. Thinking back to when I was younger, I don’t think I added as much sugar.
Or maybe it’s because as we get older, our taste buds decrease, and the sugary taste of the dip isn’t as extreme.
Some quick fun facts from
The Cleveland Clinic about taste buds:
• Taste buds can detect five tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami (a fancy way to say savory or meaty flavor).
• Taste buds aren’t just on your tongue — they’re also on the roof of your mouth and even your throat.
• Adults can have anywhere between 2,000 to 10,000 taste buds, but we lose them as we age. Is that why many children gravitate to certain foods and stay away from others? I’m guessing this is why I couldn’t stand this fruit dip as a kid.
Whatever the case, the fruit dip is now tolerable.
Besides dipping a crunchy apple (cantaloupe is OK, bananas pair nicely and it soothes the sting from pineapple), the real star of the whole snack, I think, is homemade vanilla.
It just ties the three-ingredient dip together, making it smooth.
Before you pass out candy, whip up some of this dip, slice apples and carefully inhale this easy recipe. It’s almost as good as a Kit Kat.
Fruit Dip
Ingredients
1 block (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 cup brown sugar (not packed — I also don’t fill my measuring cup all the way)
1 tablespoon vanilla
Optional: I’ve added a spritz of fresh lemon juice as I’m mixing this — not quite 1/8 of a teaspoon.
Directions
Using a mixer, whip all the ingredients together, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula.
Share your favorite recipes and memories with Features Editor Ashley Fox at afox@tribtoday.com.