Lighter Radish Dip

Recently, I found quark at my nearest Whole Foods Market.  Quark is a German cheese similar to cream cheese, and I have been wanting to try it for a while.  It is not quite as stiff as cream cheese and has a lot less fat.  In fact, it only has 2 grams of fat per ounce as opposed to the 9 grams per ounce in full fat cream cheese.  So, after getting it home, I needed to decide what to do with it.  Traditionally, quark is used to my cheesecake, but having had more than my share of cheesecake over the holidays, I decided to look for something that wasn’t sweet – though I am going to have to make that cheesecake someday.  Finally, I decided to make a lighter version of the radish dip my mother made when I was growing up.  Now, don’t worry if you are not a big radish fan, this is still delicious.  It is very fresh tasting, and I have even had people mistake it for shrimp dip.

The recipe actually came from my mother’s women’s club’s cookbook and was actually submitted by one of her friends, who I have heard looks at this blog sometimes, but I don’t know how she would feel about having her name online, so I will leave that out here.   The original recipe had cream cheese instead of Quark, so if you can not find Quark, you can use cream cheese or neufchatel.  I also cut the butter back a bit, added a little garlic, and used chives instead of onions.  Hope you enjoy!

This recipe was shared on Foodie Friends Friday.