Hot Artichoke Dip

I got this recipe about 20 years ago from my mom and it's been a regular in my kitchen since. Popular wherevere I go and serve it to, it's almost a meal in itself!

 

Since I had the smoker going, my wife and I decided to have a taste comparison of my Hot Artichoke Dip- Baked or Smoked? Have never smoked it before so the competition was on!

Here's the goods-

 

Softened the cream cheese, mixed in all the shreds, the mayo and a couple shots of the cayenne sauce. Cut up the vegs and in they go too. Added about 1/2 cup Parmesan that I forgot to put in the beginning picture. Gotta have it.-

 

 

Next up were the drained artichoke hearts-

 

Also in was about 1 TSP coarse ground black pepper. Mix the hearts in gently, then spoon out into foil pans like this-

 

Two pans went into the oven at the usual 325 F until brown and bubbly-

 

The third pan went into the smoker burning hickory. Since this was the first time at smoking the dip, it just went into the smoker at what I was smoking at, 225 F. Here it is after 2 hours, almost ready!-

 

Once done, it was ready to taste with "Aztecs", my name for home-baked corn tortilla chips. They are nice and sturdy~just the ticket for this dip-

 

Here's the smoked one served up for the taste-off!-

 

The verdict? Smoked dip is excellent! I liked this one better, my wife preferred the baked one. Overall it came out a tie. No worries, they are both very, very good. The smoked one had a faint kiss of hickory all through it, but the browned top part had more hickory to it obviously. The baked one is pure cheesy-artichoke goodness.....