Red Pepper Jelly with Cream Cheese

 
Many years ago, when I was in college I believe, I was home for Christmas and we had family over for dinner.  My mom put out this appetizer, cream cheese with some weird jelly on it.  I said to her "What the heck is that?" and she replied "Just try it!"  I was very skeptical, so I waited to see if everyone else was going to eat it.  My uncles all dove into it, so I figured it was safe enough to try (I wasn't very food adventurous back then).

I was pleasantly surprised at how yummy it was!  At the time I had never even heard of Red Pepper Jelly, so who knew it would pair so well with cream cheese on a cracker???  I don't know where she got the idea/recipe from but I never forgot it and now I serve it often before a holiday meal.  

 
If you like a little kick, instead of using Sweet Red Pepper Jelly, pick one that has some heat in it.  Today we are headed to the farmer's market in Burlington, so I'm going to try some jelly samples and see if there's a different flavor out there that might be fun to use for next time I serve this.  Give this a try - I guarantee your guests will gobble it up!

Red Pepper Jelly with Cream Cheese

1 jar of Sweet Red Pepper Jelly (my favorite brand is Fire in the Mountains)
1 block of cream cheese, at room temperature
Crackers (whatever kind is your preference)

Put block of softened cream cheese in the middle of serving platter.  Spoon Red Pepper Jelly generously all over the top of the cream cheese.  Arrange crackers around the cream cheese.  Spreading the cream cheese with the jelly on top of the crackers makes for a delicious appetizer.