Our Caramel Toffee Fruit Dip is simply another variation of the ubiquitous cream cheese fruit dip– perfect for a party because it’s so simple. That’s the trick when you have a party where you’re serving a lot of food; make easy, delicious food where a lot of it can be made ahead of time and then you can actually enjoy yourself! The brown sugar gives it a rich caramelly base, and the toffee bits bring a sweet, satisfying crunch to the equation, resulting in a mouth-watering dip that is almost impossible to stay out of! This dip is great with pretty much any fruit, though we’re especially fond of apples here. They stand up nicely to a thicker dip and the crispiness is a nice contrast.
Ingredient and Recipe Notes
- Toffee Bits – Find these in the baking aisle by the chocolate chips. Sometimes these come as plain toffee, other times they have chocolate on them as well. Either variety will work! *important allergen note: keep in mind that both Heath and Skor brand toffee bits contain almonds. If you’re serving this at a gathering, this is good to label, as you might not be able to tell it contains nuts.
- Brown Sugar – Light or dark brown sugar yields equally tasty results. Dark brown sugar will give you a slightly deeper flavor.
- Cream Cheese – Full fat or reduced fat will work, don’t use fat free.
- Vanilla – Start with the recommended 1 1/2 teaspoons, but feel free to add more to taste.
- Things to Dip – Apples, strawberries, grapes, pineapple, and pretty much any fruit you can think of is going to be delicious here. Pretzels, graham crackers, or cinnamon tortilla chips are also great.
- Bamboo Skewers – (Optional.) Skewered fruit makes for a nice presentation if serving a crowd. It also allows for quick, easy plating as people move through a buffet line.
- Prevent Browning – To prevent brown apples on your serving tray, soak apple slices for 10 minutes in a salt water solution (half a teaspoon of kosher salt per cup of water). Drain and very lightly rinse. Pat dry before serving.
How to Make Caramel Toffee Fruit Dip
- This on is super easy. Allow cream cheese to reach room temperature. With an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, brown sugar, and vanilla.
- When ready to serve, stir in about 1/2 a bag of toffee bits. Sprinkle additional toffee bits on top for garnish. Serve with fruit.
Frequently Asked Questions
This dip is best made fresh. If you are really tight on time, however, you could mix all of the dip ingredients except the toffee bits. Mix those in (and sprinkle with some for garnish) right before serving.
You bet. It won’t be quite the same, but will still be sweet and delicious. You could try stirring in something else for fun, like shredded coconut or maybe a few chocolate sprinkles.
Caramel Toffee Fruit Dip
Ingredients
- 8 ounce package cream cheese low fat is fine, avoid fat free
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla you can add more to taste
- 1 bag toffee bits you may not need the whole bag
- Assorted fruit sliced apples, strawberries, pineapple, etc.
- Bamboo skewers if you want to kebab your fruit
Instructions
- Allow cream cheese to reach room temperature. With an electric mixer, combine cream cheese, brown sugar, and vanilla until smooth.
- When ready to serve, stir in about 1/2 a bag of toffee bits. Serve with fruit.
Questions & Reviews
You can call this recipe AWARD WINNING! I used this for the ‘appetizer/dip’cook-off at my office today and won 1st place! Thank you.
Awesome!!!! I’m so happy!!
Delicious….
I have made this recipe for many years. The bowl always comes back empty.
In the fall you can also add 1/2 cup pumpkin puree and a little bit of cinnamon and nutmeg. It is absolutely delicious.
Its beast
about how much does this make. I am using for my 35th wedding anniversary party and we are having about 130 people. Thanks
It makes about the same amount as one block of cream cheese, so you’ll need quite a few batches!
It was a bit too thick for me so I added 2 tablespoons of sour cream and then another splash of vanilla. It turned out great!
This was a llovely dip for our Easter brunch! (even without adding the toffee bits.) Thank you for sharing!
Jenn and Kate- in reference to the fat free cream cheese – IT DOES NOT work!!!!!!!!! toooooooo runny!!! Was making a double batch and had to throw it out! Thank goodness I had not put the toffee bits in yet! Just the sugar, cream cheese and vanilla!! I was using the "great value" brand, not name brand so don't know if that made a difference!
I totally ate this for breakfast with an apple this morning…then ate the rest of it with my finger at lunch….SOOOO tasty
I made this for a party and it was a big hit! I served with fresh granny smith apples and I used the toffee with chocolate.
Jenn–Personally, I'm not a fan of fat free cream cheese–I think it has a weird, chemical taste and texture and honestly, if I had a bagel and it was between using fat free cream cheese and no cream cheese, I'd pick no cream cheese. That said, if you're okay with fat free cream cheese's texture and flavor, there's no reason you COULDN'T use it–like it should hold together just fine. 🙂
So I opted to go for the reduced fat cream cheese and just used light brown sugar.
Now, what about fat free cream cheese? Would it lose too much of the taste/texture?
I'm still going to try it with the splenda mix….. because it'd be so much more diet-friendly! 🙂
Sure, give it a shot Jen. Low-fat cream cheese is just fine (that's actually what I usually use) and the splenda will work, it just has a little bit different of a flavor (as you probably know)
what about using splenda brown sugar and low-fat cream cheese?
Would this work?
I have my children's birthday parties coming up and I am so going to do this. We will have lovely fresh fruit available then. Next to the pool, it will be a hit!!!!
If I prepared this caramel tofee dip before party I would have to remake it and remake it before all guests arrived since I would empty bowls of this dip one after another. I couldn't resist even a second.
I made this dip this past weekend, for a summer get-together with friends, and it was a huge hit! And you're right, no fruit needed – my friends were ready with a spoon, and I have already had three requests for the recipe.
I thought I had brown sugar, but didn't, so I substituted white sugar instead, and it still worked!
I’ve used many variations of this dip for showers/church activities and called it an “apple bar”. Put out lots of kinds of apples and then the different dips.
Here are some ideas for possible additions besides toffee pieces:
cinnamon, nutmeg and pecans
frozen raspberries
peanut butter (i use less cream cheese in this instance)
caramel (good by itself too)
marshmallows
Enjoy!
I can not wait to make this. I love fruit and always looking for a new fruit dip!
I want to host a babyshower just so I have an excuse to make this! My husband’s birthday is in 3 weeks, and I think I’m going to try this out on him. Birthday party, baby shower, caramel craving…this looks worthy of any occasion!
mmm, I love this stuff! Especially with tart green apples (while watching The Biggest Loser- right Tricia?? lol)
I am so going to try all of these recipes. Especially the ones involving chocolate! Hee hee!
So I just did a baby shower last night and while it was good, I wish that I would have done this full menu! I’ll have to do this for the next shower I host! Even better, I’m just going to make it all for me!
This looks so good! I love any kind of fruit dip, but this one looks extra yummy!
This was the tastiest baby shower I have ever been too!!! Thanks for the great ideas!