4-Ingredient Slow Cooker Strawberry Cheesecake Dip
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Ingredients
16 oz cream cheese (two blocks), softened
1 cup strawberry jam — I use whatever’s in the fridge, honestly
1 cup sour cream
About ½ cup granulated sugar, maybe a little less depending on how sweet your jam is
Let’s Make It
Lightly grease the inside of your Slow Cooker first — just a little butter smear or a quick spray — because otherwise the edges get this slightly caramelized crust that isn’t terrible, but it’s not what we’re going for here. I learned this the hard way. More than once, actually, which tells you something about how well I retain lessons.
Cut the cream cheese into chunks and drop them in. Don’t try to put in a whole block — it just sits there like a brick for the first hour and you’ll be tempted to crank up the heat. Spoon the jam over the top, then add the sour cream and the sugar. Give it a rough stir — it won’t look pretty, it’s going to look like a mess — and then put the lid on and walk away.
Cook on LOW for an hour and a half to two hours, stirring every thirty minutes or so. I usually stir it at thirty minutes, then go fold some laundry, stir at an hour, and then it’s usually done by the time I’m back from whatever else I’ve wandered into. You’re looking for it to be fully smooth and hot all the way through, with the sugar dissolved. Taste it at the end — this is the important part — and add a little more jam or sugar or nothing, depending on what you think.
If you’re serving it right away, it can stay in the slow cooker on WARM basically indefinitely. I’ve had it sitting there for three hours at a gathering and it was still good. Stir it occasionally so the edges don’t thicken up and get weird.
4-Ingredient Slow Cooker Strawberry Cheesecake Dip
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Variations
Adding a teaspoon of vanilla extract makes it taste more like “real” cheesecake. I’ve started doing it too, though I don’t always remember.
I’ve also tried swirling extra jam on top right before serving, which looks very pretty and impressive for something that took zero effort. Drag a spoon or a butter knife through it for a marbled effect. People will think you did something.
What I haven’t tried: adding lemon zest, which a few people have mentioned to me. Something about the cold lemon against the warm cream cheese doesn’t appeal to me, but I am probably wrong about this. I’m wrong about food things more often than I like to admit.
Storage
Leftovers go in the fridge in a container and will keep for — I want to say four or five days, though I don’t think I’ve ever actually gotten to day five because it doesn’t last that long. Reheat it gently in the microwave in short bursts, stirring in between, or just set the whole slow cooker insert back in the base on low and let it come back slowly. If it’s gotten too thick — and it will thicken up in the cold — stir in a tiny splash of milk or cream. Just a little. You’re not making soup.
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