Creamy Cinnamon Apple and Walnut Fruit Salad
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The perfect autumn fruit salad! It’s loaded with crisp, sweet apples, cranberries and walnuts and covered in a rich, cinnamon cream cheese dressing. What’s not to love?
Creamy Apple Cinnamon Fruit Salad
You can never have too many fruit salad recipes, right? Especially when they are this creamy and luscious and perfectly easy to prepare!
This creamy apple fruit salad is definitely going to be one of my go-to fruit salad recipes from now on. I made it at lunch time and before I’d even taken a bite of the rest of my lunch I’d polished off the my bowl of this and wanted more because it was just that good!
Apples, walnuts and cinnamon just go together, and fruit salads with cream cheese (or in this case light cream cheese) are pretty much the best so you basically already know this is going to be good before tasting it.
I love all the textures and flavors in this apple fruit salad. You get those perfectly crisp sweet apples, a light tartness from the dried cranberries, just the right amount of rich creaminess from the dressing and finally that wonderful crunch from the walnuts.
Trust me, after one taste it’s a fruit salad you’ll crave from then on!
This is the perfect side to your end of summer cookouts coming up this month and of course it’s the perfect salad to transition into fall with!
And let me just say do not leave out the walnuts in this salad. They really do take this salad over the top! A
nd of course I didn’t just use any walnuts, I use Fishers Walnuts not only for there perfect flavor but because they are one of the only brands of recipe nuts made entirely without preservatives!
They are one of my go to snacks plus I love adding them to salads, oatmeal, granola, pastas, baked goods, cheese balls (yeah I’m craving one of those right about now) and so much more!
Try them in this fruit salad and see for yourself just how delicious they make it!
More Fruit Salad Recipes to Try
- Honey Lime Rainbow Fruit Salad
- Winter Fruit Salad with Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
- Honey Balsamic Fruit Salad
- Cheesecake Fruit Salad
- Melon Pineapple Fruit Salad
Follow Easy Cooking Zone
Creamy Cinnamon Apple and Walnut Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 1 (8 oz) pkg. Neufchatel cheese, softened slightly (light cream cheese)
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 (8 oz) pkg. light sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 lbs crisp, sweet apples, chilled (I used a combo of Gala, Jazz and Golden Delicious)
- 2 cups cold water, for soaking apples
- 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice, for soaking apples
- 1 cup chopped Fishers Walnuts
- 3/4 cup dried cranberries
Instructions
- For the dressing: In a mixing bowl using an electric hand mixer, whip together Neufchatel cheese, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add sour cream and vanilla and blend until combined. Chill until ready to serve salad.
- For the fruit salad:I n a medium mixing bowl combine water and lemon juice. Dice apples into cubes, while cutting out core, and as your cutting them in batches dump them into the lemon water mixture and let rest about 1 minute then drain on paper towels (this just reduces the browning).
- Transfer apples to a bowl along with about 3/4 of the walnuts and 3/4 of the cranberries, and the Neufchatel cheese mixture.
- Toss to coat apples evenly. Sprinkle remaining 1/4 of the walnuts and cranberries over top. Keep chilled and serve within an hour for best results*.
Notes
- *The dressing can be made a day in advance just don't cut the apples until you're almost ready to serve this. Also, it makes a big batch so if you aren't serving that many you can cut the recipe in half.