Pickle Wraps
Welcome to the first Food Friday! I’m really excited about this portion of the blog. If you have been friends with my on Facebook or follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen pictures of some of my baking creations. I love baking. But I also know that I am not going to be able to post a baking project once a week—I don’t do it that often. So I thought having a broader horizon was better. This way I also get to share some of my favorite foods.
In honor of the month of December and the holiday season, I am going to be focusing on Christmas and New Years favorites.
I present to you, the humble pickle wrap—our most beloved appetizer.
I can’t remember a Christmas without a pickle wrap; it’s a family tradition. I remember going to Iowa to visit my mom’s family and there would be whole cookie sheets full of pickle wraps. There was one year I would make up excuses to walk through the kitchen at my grandparents’ house so I could sneak a couple.
It’s an easy appetizer to make—but it’s easier with some extra help.
All you need is:
· a jar of whole pickles
· a package of cream cheese
· a package of sliced cooked ham
· some garlic powder
You will notice that everything is doubled in my pictures…we find that the more we have the better. One year we got honey ham on accident, it’s not as good. I wouldn’t recommend it, the sweet distracted from the wonderful savory taste.
An important step that my mom always did before we got started is to make the cream cheese mixture. All you need to do is make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature and then add in some garlic powder. Do this to taste—some people like more garlic powder than others.
When my brother was still too small to help, my job was to dry off the pickles. I pretended like I was making my own wrap, just minus that ham and cream cheese and substitute paper towel.
And then when my brother was old enough to help, he took over drying off the pickles. My job was to pat the ham dry. I made a nice bed of paper towels and put the ham in the middle and pat it until it’s not so wet.
Now that I’m an adult and want to help mom with the preparations for the holiday events as much as possible, I have taken over what was always her job—spreading the cream cheese mixture onto the ham and wrapping it all up.
The hardest part is putting them in the fridge to chill and not slicing them up to eat right away. We try to make these the day before so they can chill over night. It’s much easier to slice them when the cream cheese is stiffer.
Right before the meal, we pull the wraps out of the fridge and slice them. This year my brother’s fiancé get to help us, and so she sliced the pickle wraps. It was her first time being with us for the holidays, and it was fun to share one of our traditions with her. I don't recommend using a serrated knife, but that's what Mom used to demonstrate for me.
Now, I forgot to take a picture of the final outcome this year, but she did a fantastic job. Fortunately, since this is a tradition, I was able to find a picture from years past!
