Cranberry Cream Cheese made with Leftover Cranberry Sauce

Combining leftover cranberry sauce with cream cheese, chopped walnuts, and honey makes an easy, no-frills breakfast spread. And is a clever way to repurpose that Thanksgiving leftover cranberry sauce!

I love the challenge of repurposing Thanksgiving leftovers. For me, it's more exciting than actually eating Thanksgiving dinner. For days beforehand, my brain buzzes with anticipation. Possible leftover Thanksgiving breakfasts, lunches, and dinners cycle through my mind as I cross-reference with items currently in my fridge and pantry.

Leftover cranberry sauce often gets turned into some sort of dessert. But I figured why not make it the star of breakfast?

Jump to:

• How to make Cranberry Cream Cheese
• Ingredients
• Instuctions
• What should you use Cranberry Cream Cheese for?
• Cranberry Cream Cheese Storage
• Cranberry Cream Cheese made with Leftover Cranberry Sauce

How to make Cranberry Cream Cheese

This is a super easy breakfast idea. Because you deserve a break after slaving away on that Thanksgiving meal. All you need are four ingredients to create Cranberry Cream Cheese made with Leftover Cranberry Sauce is:

Ingredients

• Cream cheese
• Leftover cranberry sauce (homemade is best here!)
• Walnut pieces
• Honey

Any leftover homemade cranberry sauce will do here, so I'm not providing a recipe. I can't speak to whether or not the canned jellied stuff would work. I used some homemade cranberry sauce that my mother-in-law provided that had a lovely orange citrus zing to it.

The walnut pieces add a nice textural bite and a little bit of honey sweeten things up.

Instuctions

Let the package of cream cheese come to room temperature.

Buzz ¼ cup of walnut pieces in a food processor for 5-7 seconds (or finely chop with a knife). You want walnut pieces that resemble tiny pebbles to add texture.

Add the room temperature cream cheese, finely chopped walnuts, ½ cup leftover cranberry sauce, and ½ teaspoon of honey to a bowl.

Combine with a hand mixer on medium speed. This should take around 45 seconds.

That's it! Spread over a fresh bagel or English muffin.

What should you use Cranberry Cream Cheese for?

All you need now is a carb of your choice to slather this fantastically easy leftover cranberry spread on. Try this leftover cranberry sauce cream cheese recipe on:

• Bagels
• English muffins
• Toast (white or multi-grain)
• Cinnamon swirl toast
• Crackers (like Ritz)

Cranberry Cream Cheese Storage

If you used leftover homemade cranberry sauce in this recipe, store in a lidded container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

You might also consider these solid breakfast options:

• Ranchero Eggs
• Chorizo Breakfast Tacos with Apple Radish Slaw
• Air Fryer Egg Cups
• Creamy Goat Cheese Bagel Spread
• Chorizo Shakshuka

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