Bacon Spinach Beer Cheese Dip

in a Beer Bread Bowl

I’m doing another blogger cooking challenge. It’s not like I wouldn’t have made this delicious dip anyway (because I just love hot  & cheesy dips), but without the challenge I don’t know if I would have thought to make a bread bowl to put it in. I really love how the bread turned out, too. It has a marvelous flavor and a light sweetness that I really love which has to be coming from the beer because this is my “basic” whole wheat bread recipe with beer in place of water.

For this challenge I chose Lucky Bucket Certified Evil. It’s a deep dark beer that I like to cook with. Usually I prefer to drink my dark beers, but this one … this one is really good for cooking.

I’m also submitting this recipe for a good cause. My friend who works at USGS sent this link to me last week. The Wildland Firefighter Federation is creating a cookbook to support the firefighters. I noticed they were looking for more appetizer recipes and thought this one would be perfect.

Bacon Spinach Beer Cheese Dip in a Beer Bread Bowl

• Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the bread bowl:

• 2 cups bread flour
• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1 Tablespoon sugar or honey
• 1 Tablespoon yeast
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups Lucky Bucket Certified Evil beer (or other dark beer)
• Freshly ground black pepper (as much as you like)

For the dip:

• 3 – 5 strips of lower-fat bacon
• ¾ cup chopped sweet onion
• 5 ounces light cream cheese
• 2 cups fresh spinach leaves, chopped
• ¼ cup Lucky Bucket Certified Evil beer
• ½ cup nonfat greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon wortcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon dry mustard
• ½ – ¾ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• ½ teaspoon Sriracha hot sauce (add more or less to taste)

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Instructions

1. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. Put the ingredients for the bread into your bread machine and set it on the dough setting. When the dough is ready, divide it in two and shape into two balls. Set the balls on the baking sheet, spray with cooking spray, cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until the bread balls look nice and puffy.
2. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the bread for about 40 minutes or until the breads are nicely browned and sound hollow when you thump on one of them.
3. While the bread is baking, make the dip. In a saucepan, fry the bacon strips until crispy, then set aside the bacon and let it cool.
4. Drain off the excess fat from the pan, then sautee the onions over medium heat until soft.
5. Reduce the heat to medium low, mix in the remaining ingredients and cook, stirring frequently, until the spinach has wilted, the cream cheese is mixed in thoroughly and the cheddar is melted.
6. Chop the bacon into bits, reserving a bit for garnish and stir it into the cheesy dip.
7. When your bread bowl is done, let it cool for at least 15 minutes, then cut off the top fourth of one of the breads and scoop out the insides to make a bowl. Set the bread bowl onto a serving plate, cut the scooped bread and the chopped off top into cubes, toast the bread cubes (if you want) and set them on the side of the bowl.
8. Warm the dip if it has cooled off and pour it into the bowl. Sprinkle with reserved bacon and chives if desired and serve immediately while it’s still warm. If you need more bread cubes for dipping, cut thick slices off the other loaf and cut into cubes.

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Notes

Inspired by Taste of Home

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

© Copyright 2013, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

This recipe was also shared at Marvelous Monday, Try a New Recipe Tuesday, Tuesday’s Table, Wednesday Extravaganza and Thursday’s Treasures.