Hot and Creamy Vegan Artichoke Dip

I am in charge of a loosely-organized mostly-social group on my campus that consists of new(ish) faculty. We had a ton of new people arrive this year, so I've planned some events where people can get to know one another. As it turned out, many of the new folks to arrive on campus have small children, so I decided that a late afternoon weekend potluck might be just the thing for those new folk for whom an after-work happy hour would be a scheduling nightmare. (For the record, it was a great success and there were many small people happily running around.)

While talking with Shana about what we should bring to the potluck, she mentioned an old recipe of mine that I hadn't pulled out in a while - a hot artichoke dip. I used to make this all the time while in grad school; it was my go to recipe for bringing to football game viewing parties, someone-did-something-so-let's-celebrate parties, or really any time a group of people gathered together. It was quite popular and always devoured. In fact, I would bring it to a party, set it down, and people would descend upon it, barely talking until it was gone. When we moved to western NY, I ended up making it for a party, but it didn't go as fast. I started making other things, and we just kind of forgot about this recipe. Upon bringing it to this potluck, it was devoured!

Now, this is NOT a good for you recipe. It's high in fat, although because it is vegan, the corresponding non-vegan version would be very high in fat and cholesterol. Anyway, I just thought I would give you fair warning that this is definitely a once in a while type of treat. But wow, what a delicious treat.

Hot and Creamy Vegan Artichoke Dip
Ingredients
4 oz. vegan cream cheese
8 oz. vegan mayo
14.5 oz. can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
3-4 T. vegan mozzarella cheese
1/4 c. nutritional yeast, plus more for sprinkling
salt
pepper

Directions
Preheat oven to 375.
1. Put the vegan cream cheese on the counter to soften for 10-20 minutes.
2. Drain the artichokes and cut them into smaller pieces.
3. Mix all ingredients together well, then spread into a small-ish oven-safe dish (I prefer glass).
4. Sprinkle extra nutritional yeast on top.
5. Bake for 25ish minutes, or until bubbly in the middle.

Helpful Hints

• I use the following brands: vegan cream cheese = Tofutti;  vegan mayo = Veganaise; vegan mozzarella = Daiya. There are absolutely other brands to use, check out my substitutions page. 
• You could certainly use a food processor to mix together all the ingredients. If you do, I'd suggest leaving the artichokes out until the other ingredients are well-mixed, then stirring in the artichokes by hand. 
• I've cooked this in a variety of shapes of oven-safe dishes. As stated above, I prefer glass for this. I think an 8 x 8 pan might be the best size. 

The post "Hot and Creamy Artichoke Dip" first appeared on Maggie's LesVegan Kitchen.