With chilly temps and that big sporting event (you know I mean the Olympics, right?) happening this weekend, it seemed the perfect time to share my favorite beer–cheese dip in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. This dip is easy yet decadent; we usually think of special-occasion recipes as being difficult, but not so here. The recipe in my column gives you store-bought ingredient options, but you can also bump the decadence up several notches by using homemade versions.

Let me be clear: when I make dips like this one with homemade ingredients, I don’t start by saying, “OK, I’m going to smoke the cheese and chilies, make the chili paste and mustard, roast the garlic, and then I can make dip.” Nope. All those ingredients are staples in my fridge. When I want to use them in dip (and everything else), I just set them on the counter, mix them into dip, and dig in.

Learn more about pairing beer with cheese and get the complete recipe for Quick Beer–Cheese Dip in my column.

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Twice as Tasty

If the idea of substituting all of the dip’s ingredients with homemade upgrades seems daunting, make just one. Once you taste it, you’ll be keen to try more. Here are the homemade ingredients I typically use in Quick Beer–Cheese Dip:

• Cold-Smoked Cheese
• Home-Smoked Chili Paste
• Spicy German-Style Mustard
• Roasted Garlic

Once you have your dip, your choice of dippers can range from a bag of sturdy tortilla chips, to crisp store-bought or storage fruits and vegetables like apples and carrots, to homemade treats. Again, you have plenty of options for upgrades that you can make a couple of days ahead and enjoy with more than this dip. My favorites use my sourdough starter. If you received and woke up a sourdough starter during last month’s giveaway, you should be experienced enough make any of these recipes:

• Sourdough Pretzel Bites
• Sourdough Pita Chips
• Adaptable Sourdough Crackers
• Sourdough Garlic Knots

You can find more dipper ideas in the recipe index.

Want more Twice as Tasty recipes? Get my books! Click here to order a personally signed, packaged, and shipped copy of The Complete Guide to Pickling directly from me. I also share tasty ways to use pickles in The Pickled Picnic, a digital collection in an easy-to-read PDF format; it’s only available here.