Tart Cherry Cream Cheese Yogurt Dip Recipe

Tart Cherry Cream Cheese Yogurt Dip Recipe

Apr 13, 2016 by Dara Leave a Comment

There’s nothing better than the sound of my kids playing with their friends outside once the nice weather arrives. Soccer penalty kick competitions, scooter races and water gun fights lead to laughter, joking and harmless smack-talk. After hours of running around and burning off energy, those boys are famished.

I always have veggies, crackers and cheese, and popcorn on hand, but sometimes we like to mix things up a little. The house with the good snacks gets to be the hang-out place for the kids!

When I’m brainstorming a new snack idea, there are a few pre-requisites. It has to be quick, it gets bonus points if it’s healthy and preferably it’s gluten-free. A couple of my boys’ friends have Celiac disease or gluten intolerances, so I always try to have snacks on hand that they can eat.

We always have a supply of Montmorency dried tart cherries in our pantry, which we either eat straight or stir into mixes such as Curry Spiced Nuts with Dried Cherries. And if we’re whipping up smoothies, tart cherry juice is one of our favorite ingredients, particularly when blended with mangoes.

Montmorency tart cherry juice and concentrate is very versatile, both in smoothies or as a glaze for roasted vegetables. It has a lovely sweet-tart flavor and each time I drink it, I feel as though I just ate a handful of fresh fruit. This time I decided to use it in a healthy fruit dip that I knew the kids would love!

For more information on Montmorency tart cherries and recipe inspiration, be sure to visit the Cherry Marketing Institute site, and follow Choose Cherries on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Other healthy gluten free snacks:

• Cookin’ Canuck’s No-Bake Carrot Cake Granola Bites (use gluten free oats)
• Cookin’ Canuck’s Greek Avocado & Feta Stuffed Cucumber Cups
• Cheftographer’s Banana Date Protein Smoothie
• Rachael Adele’s Parmesan & Sea Salt Popcorn
• Cotter Crunch’s Citrus Kiwi Pineapple Homemade Roll Ups
• If you make this recipe, I’d love to see it on Instagram! Just use the hashtag #COOKINCANUCK and I’ll be sure to find it.
• Tart Cherry Cream Cheese Yogurt Dip Recipe Author: Dara Michalski | Cookin' Canuck Serves: Makes 2 cups Ingredients

8 oz. Neufchatel cheese (or low-fat cream cheese), room temperature ⅔ cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt ¼ cup + 2 tbsp Montmorency tart cherry juice 1 tbsp maple syrup Instructions

Place the cream cheese in a large mixing bowl. With a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as necessary, about 2 minutes. Add the Greek yogurt, tart cherry juice and maple syrup, and beat until smooth. Serve with apple and banana slices. Notes Weight Watchers Points: 2 (SmartPoints), 1 (Points+), 1 (Old Points) Nutrition Information Serving size: 2 tablespoons | Calories: 47.3 cal | Fat: 3.0g | Saturated fat: 2.0g | Carbohydrates: 3.1g | Sugar: 2.5g | Sodium: 59.9mg | Fiber: 0g | Protein: 2.0g | Cholesterol: 3.1g 3.4.3177

Disclosure: This post is sponsored by The Cherry Marketing Institute as part of a brand ambassadorship program. This post contains links to my Amazon affiliate page. Any revenue made from sales through these links helps to support this blog. Thank you!