There Is No Way To Attractively Photograph Cream Cheese Spread

No, there isn't. I tried. Unfortunately, while this looks like the cat had a bad case of indigestion, in fact it was a really great appetizer. If you squint your eyes, you can even see how I even tried to form the cream cheese into a little star shape instead of just plopping the cream cheese down like the brick that it comes in. This was so delicious. Although no one asked me for the recipe, their actions did the talking. After all the crackers (and even the molecule size fragments of crackers) were used like mini-spatulas to get up every last bite, I was seriously afraid one person was going to lick the plate to get the last bits up.

Cranberry and Red Pepper Jelly Spread

1/2 cup red pepper jelly
1/2 cup canned whole cranberry sauce
1 8 oz. brick cream cheese

Combine jelly and cranberry sauce in a separate bowl, stirring well to combine completely. Spoon over cream cheese. Serve with crackers.

TWD: Buttery Jam Cookies

For your consideration: Buttery Jam Cookies from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, page 80 featured this week on Tuesdays with Dorie.

Short and sweet today, my dearest sweeties! I have a BOATLOAD of things to do tonight to get ready for the morrow. It's Winter Party for the Little One and I am the Room Mom who needs to help, bring some supplies, teacher gifts and flowers for one of the teacher's half birthday AND some paying work as well, woo hoo! It's a whirlwind I tell you! A whirl wind!

Thank Heavens I made these cookies three weeks ago. I would have been really crazy otherwise ;) (You can see one of the Linzer Sables hanging out in the background.)

These were easy peasy to make - I used peach preserves and while this combo was good and buttery, they didn't taste very peachy. Maybe something stronger like apricot would have been better. Hmm. I might make these again, because they were good and if I do, I'll be trying apricot jam.

Thanks to Heather of Randomosity and the Girl for choosing this recipe. To see what all the other TWDers did with it, check out the blogroll here. If you'd like to try making Dorie’s version of Buttery Jam Cookies for yourself, you can find the recipe on our hostess’s blog, or in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours.