If you’re worried about your calorie intake (you shouldn’t, it’s a party!) you could use low-fat cream cheese and try yogurt instead of mayo.
But I would highly recommend trying the recipe as is, first, because it’s delicious! I do tweak it a little bit on the go; sometimes I add more hot sauce, sometimes I omit it (if I’m serving this to kids). Besides parties, I love serving this as a side dish with dinner rolls, but as an appetizer I always serve this with crackers.
Ingredients
8 oz. Philadelphia cream cheese, room temp
1/4 cup Hellman’s mayonnaise
2 to 4 Tbsp of lemon juice (2 if regular lemon, 4 if Meyer lemon), more to taste
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
3/4 pound cooked, shelled, small pink shrimp (salad shrimp)
1/4 cup sliced scallions, including the greens
2 Tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp Tabasco or Crystal hot sauce
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions:
In a medium bowl beat together the cream cheese and mayonnaise until smooth. Add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Beat until smooth (you may need to use a whisk.)
If you have a food processor, pulse together the shrimp and the cream cheese mixture, three 1-second pulses. If not, or if you just don’t want to deal with the food processor, chop up the shrimp—fine to medium chop—and mix into the cream cheese.
Return to the bowl and stir in the scallions and parsley. Add the hot sauce and black pepper to taste. Add more lemon juice to taste.
Keep chilled. Serve with crackers or crudite.
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Quick tip: To defrost frozen shrimp safely, place in a bowl of ice water.