Monday's Recipes-Pickle Wraps

When I was a little girl, my grandma and grandpa still lived in the same state (now they are across the country). We had several Christmases each year. One with them, one with my Nana and Papa, our own family's, and I'm sure there were a few others. One thing we had every year was what we called pickle wraps. Grandma would make them for each holiday or gathering, and they would disappear almost as fast as she could put them out.

A few years ago, they moved across the country. Suddenly, if we wanted our wraps, we had to figure them out ourselves. Now, each person makes them slightly differently, I think, but I became in charge of making them because I'm the youngest and they are relatively cheap to make.

Here is what I use...

1 small jar of dill pickles. I prefer whole because spears get the juices everywhere, and make them soggy and gross.
1 block of cream cheese
Worcestershire sauce
Lunch meat, I prefer ham, in deli style slices.

You must either soften or allow the cream cheese to soften. If you do not do this, it will be hard to spread and tear the daylights out of your meat.
When the cream cheese is soft like butter, place into a bowl, add a bit of Worcestershire sauce. Now, I don't measure but I would say it's probably about a tablespoon? Whip this up with a hand mixer, this will also help make your cream cheese more fluffy and easier to work with.
I lay about 3 pieces of ham end to end on my work space and spread them all with a small bit of cream cheese. You can be a little liberal with the cream cheese, you will likely have a bit leftover otherwise. I than place the pickle on one end and start rolling it up. If your ham is of the size where all the ends start overlapping in the same spot, try to stagger them. I find this makes the flavor blend better (and will look better later when you put them out!) I than roll them into a bit of tin foil like a small piece of candy.
Repeat this until you are out of an ingredient. I typically run out of pickles first and have a bit of ham and cream cheese leftover. Granted I don't have the best eating habits but I must admit I kind of like to spread the cream cheese onto the ham and eat it on the spot.

I store the wraps in the fridge until the cream cheese hardens. I usually make the wraps the night before, so it is fine, however if I am in a pinch, I will sometimes just put the wraps into the freezer for an hour or so. I wouldn't do this long enough for them to freeze though, because as pickles thaw, they get gross and mushy.

When I'm ready to serve the wraps, I simply cut them up, arrange them on a plate, and put a few toothpicks nearby. I than run before the stampede comes!


When I was pregnant with my little girl, I craved these like crazy...we actually made a bag and I would sit and eat them without bothering to cut them up. Than, one day I got sick of them and my poor husband was bringing them to work for the next few weeks.