THE VERY BEST CRAB DIP MOLD

The Very Best Crab Dip Mold image

This is a great as a dip, we actually made it the focus of our main meal. I served this with multi-grain gluten-free crackers, onion crackers, toasted French baguettes and celery sticks. It is hard to stop eating it once you start! This is not your regular boring dip. Fresh, satisfying, light and creamy, I think it would be...

Provided by Maggie M

Number Of Ingredients 8

Ingredients

8 oz brick cream philadelphia cheese - not the spreadable kind
1 can(s) cream of mushroom soup - do not dilute
1 c hellman's or best foods real mayonnaise - no substitutions
1 .25 oz envelope unflavored gelatin
1 c finely chopped celery
3/4 c finely chopped red onion yellow or white will work but red has better flavor
8 - 12 oz cooked crab fresh is best - dungeness for best flavor, snow or king work well. thawed frozen is ok as is canned - be sure to dry the crab
cracker of your choice

Steps:

1. Cut cream cheese into about 16 pieces and set aside.
2. Put soup into small saucepan and warm. Do not boil.
3. When soup is warm add the cream cheese and stir until melted.
4. Turn off the heat. Add the mayonnaise to the cream cheese mixture and blend well.
5. Sprinkle gelatin evenly over top of the soup mixture and stir to blend. When gelatin has dissolved remove allow mixture to set and cool to room temperature.
6. When mixture has cooled to room temperature, add remaining ingredients except for crackers and stir to mix well.
7. Pour all into a bowl and chill for at least 8 hours.
8. If you want to have it molded, pour into a pretty shaped bowl like a bundt pan lined with plastic wrap. Place in refrigerator for at least 8 hours before serving. When you are ready to serve flip the bowl upside down onto serving plate and carefully remove plastic wrap.
9. Serve cold with crackers.
10. NOTES: I have made this so many times I can't even tell you! I have used many different brands of soup and I can tell you that Campbell's condensed Cream of Mushroom is the only way to go for best flavor results. I have also made this with other than real mayonnaise and it does not taste right. Using real mayonnaise is a critical choice with this dip and Hellman's or Best Foods are the best choices. The amount of onion and crab are up to you. We prefer a nice strong onion flavor, but if you don't please feel free to reduce the amount of onion. I prefer the flavor of red onion in this recipe, but I have used scallions and they weren't too bad. Now for the crab. I only use real fresh crab and I use a lot of it because it is so danged good. If you don't have access to fresh crab you can use frozen snow or king crab. Be sure to thaw completely and drain well. You can also use canned lump crab .. again .. drain well. and it won't hurt to dab the crab with paper towel to absorb excess moisture. The amount of crab you use is - once again - up to you and your taste. If you like a lot of crab flavor use the higher amount. And one more note ... this is also extremely yummy if you add some shrimp to it! I hope you enjoy this timeless dish.