How to Make Mini Watermelon Cups with Cranberry Mascarpone for the holiday season. This healthy fruit recipe can be served as an appetizer or snack.
This recipe puts a fun spin on watermelon. Think outside the box when it comes to appetizers. These watermelon cups are filled with Cranberry Mascarpone and garnished to perfection!
This is a sponsored post for the National Watermelon Promotion Board. All opinions are my own, as always. Thanks to all the companies, and readers, who help support Cravings of a Lunatic.
These Watermelon Cups with Cranberry Mascarpone are incredibly tasty, not to mention they look so pretty on any holiday platter. I love everything about this recipe.
To be honest, when I was approached to create a recipe I was thrilled. I'm a huge watermelon fanatic. In fact, I eat watermelon, and all fruit, year round. I'm not going to let anything stand between me and my favourite fruit.
My challenge was to develop an appetizer with a holiday spin. Challenge accepted!
I wanted to make something unique that screamed "holidays". It was important to me to take watermelon out of the "summer fruit" category and place it up on a pedestal for the holiday season. I feel like watermelon gets put in a corner in the winter. And nobody puts watermelon in a corner.
These went over incredibly well with everyone here. People were popping watermelon cups with cranberry mascarpone into the mouths at rapid speed. I'm not going to lie, that made me incredibly happy. It was a hit with all our guests.
Ingredients for Watermelon Cups
- Seedless watermelon: Use the mini ones, not the full size ones.
- Fresh Cranberries: Just to be clear, fresh are best.
- Sugar: Granulated is recommended, but honestly you could use honey or agave to sweeten this.
- Mascarpone: Store bought is the easiest option, however you could make homemade.
- Basil: Use fresh basil with small leaves. Another thing you could use is mint.
- Orange: Fresh orange zest is used for garnish. Fresh limes or lemons could be substituted, either one works.
Directions for Watermelon Cups
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First, cut the rind off the watermelons.
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Next, cut the watermelon into small squares.
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After that, use a small melon baller to remove a small circle of watermelon from each cup.
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Then, use small pieces of paper towels to soak up any juice from the wells.
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Next, pulse the cranberries in a food processor.
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Then, add sugar and pulse again.
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After that, scoop the cranberry mascarpone into watermelon cups.
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Then, zest the orange and use as a garnish.
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Next, use fresh basil as a garnish.
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Lastly, serve them on a wooden tray!
Find more fabulous watermelon recipes on their website. There are really cool carvings section on their site too.
More great appetizer recipes
- Bacon Pizza Bites
- Caramel Apple Triscuit Bites
- Jalapeno Bacon Poppers
- Spinach Artichoke Cheesy Bread
- Chicken Fajita Mini Roll Ups
- Mini Potato Skins with Sour Cream, Bacon and Chives
- Root Beer Chicken Wings
- Buffalo Chicken Dip
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Watermelon Cups with Cranberry Mascarpone
Ingredients
- 2 mini seedless watermelons
- ¼ cup cranberries pulsed in a food processor
- 2 tsp sugar (honey and agave also work to sweeten the cranberries)
- 1 cup mascarpone
Garnish:
- 1 bunch basil tear, chop or mince
- 1 medium orange zest
Instructions
- Cut the rind off the watermelons. Try to cut it in a way to get the fruit as square as you can. I know it’s hard with a round fruit. I suggest cutting it in half, then place the cut side down on the cutting board so you can cut the edges off easily and safely. Once the rind is gone, cut the watermelon into small squares. You can cut them into small bite size squares or larger two bite squares. Either way works.
- Now lay out all your squares on a platter, and use a small melon baller to remove a small circle of watermelon from each piece. (save the pieces for a salad!) Use small pieces of paper towels to soak up any juice from the wells you’ve made in each piece. I tore one paper towel into strips then placed a tiny piece in each one and left them there while I made the filling.
- In a food processor pulse the cranberries until they are small pieces, not quite crumbs but close. Now add sugar (honey or agave can be substituted if you’re not able to use sugar) and pulse until it’s mixed thoroughly. The sugar helps sweeten the cranberries because they can be too tart for most people.
- Pour mascarpone into a large mixing bowl. Add the pulsed cranberry mixture to the bowl and mix by hand.
- Remove the paper towel pieces from each watermelon well and discard the paper towels.
- Use about ½ to 1 teaspoon of cranberry mascarpone mixture in each watermelon well. I rolled my cranberry mixture into balls so the presentation was pretty and also so the mixture went deep into each well.
- Zest one orange and use as a garnish on each watermelon cup.
- Tear pieces of basil and use them to garnish each watermelon cup.
- Serve with a big old Watermelon loving smile!
Notes
Nutrition
Thanks for visiting today!
Be sure to scroll around my recipe index for more appetizer recipes, as well as holiday recipes too.
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Toodles! xx
Christie
I am absolutely in love with this recipe. I wouldn't have thought to use watermelon this time of year but it makes a perfect appetizer. I have to make these ASAP.
Kim Beaulieu
Thanks so much Christie. I'd love to know what you think of them. I know you are a much healthier cook than me so I'd be curious to see what you think. I'm a big fan of watermelon, and eat it all year round. Same with cantaloupe. Big fan.
Kacey @ The Cookie Writer
I love the unique spin here! It is something I can actually eat because everyone always wraps meat around their fruit. I will so give this a try the next time I have a watermelon (and mascarpone is just amazing!)
Kim Beaulieu
Thanks so much Kacey. I'm so glad to hear you want to try it. I feel the same way. Everyone wraps meat around theirs, which is cool, but not everyone eats meat. Or wants meat with fruit. I thought this was a fun way to combine savoury and sweet together. Let me know what you think of it if you get a chance to try it.
Amy
Oh, I like these, extremely enticing, and flavorful.
Kim Beaulieu
Thanks so much Amy. Hope you get a chance to make them.
Lisa @ Wine & Glue
Gorgeous photos, these look amazing! My kiddos would LOVE these! They also love watermelon year round!
Kim Beaulieu
Thanks so much Lisa. I had a blast making these cups. Your kids are smart cookies, watermelon is meant to enjoy year round. Happy Holidays Lisa.
Ashley @ Wishes and Dishes
This is so weird because I was just craving watermelon - I'm not even kidding! I think I'm meant to go out and make these right away! What a wonderful recipe idea.
Kim Beaulieu
I'm glad I'm not the only one who craves watermelon year round. Hope you got your watermelon fix. And hope you get to try these.
Patricia @ Grab a Plate
How fun and how festive! I love this combo, and it is lovely for a holiday party!
Kim Beaulieu
Thanks so much Patricia. We loved them and so did our guests. Can't wait to make them again.
Lauren Kelly Nutrition
These little appetizers are so pretty! I love watermelon all year long, I can't wait to make these!
Kim Beaulieu
Thanks so much Lauren. I'm the same as you. I can't imagine not eating fruit through the winter. I have to get my watermelon fix year round. It's just too good to only eat in the winter.
Nicole
These are gorgeous and I bet they taste divine! Now I'm craving watermelon!
Kim Beaulieu
Thanks so much Nicole. I had such a blast making these. Cute, festive and yummy!
Lauren
These little bites are SO cute! Gorgeous photos!
Martha @ A Family Feast
Wow - what a fantastic flavor combination! I've got to see if my local market has any watermelon in stock so I can try this recipe!
Paula - bell'alimento
Oh sweet goodness I need these in my life. Next party, these beauties are being served!
Peabody (Culinary Concoctions by Peabody)
What a unique appetizer! I love the idea and never would have thought of it!
Anita
These are SO original and pretty! Wow, I want to make them for one of my parties!
Isabelle @ Crumb
I totally agree with you that poor watermelon gets no love in the winter. I'm totally guilty of that, mostly because in my head, watermelon is meant to be enjoyed barefoot in the backyard under the hot summer sun. 🙂 These are so beautiful, though, and I can totally see how the cranberry mascarpone takes it into perfect-for-the-holidays territory. Too late for my big holiday party, but there's always next year!
Brooks
I was keen on this dish the moment I saw it on social media...had to share the little gems over at my place. Thank you for the relentless inspiration. Wishing you and yours all the season's best!
Nutmeg Nanny
These little watermelon bites look fabulous! I love that cranberry mascarpone on top...yum!
Anna @ Crunchy Creamy Sweet
This is so creative! And so pretty! The watermelon sounds so refreshing and I absolutely love mascarpone with cranberries! Pinned!
Colleen (Souffle Bombay)
Mmmm, those lil bites look delicious! The as I was reading through the post...BAM I see your Rib Sliders and wow!!
Mary Beth
Can you use frozen cranberries or only fresh? I would like to make them for memorial day, There are no fresh cranberries around. Thank you. I agree with previous comments, the pictures make them look so good to eat.
Kim Beaulieu
Hi Mary Beth. You could totally use frozen. That would work perfectly. Let me know what you think of them.
Colleen
I'm sure we can all figure it out, but at no point in your recipe is the mascarpone ever added/blended/combined. I look forward to trying these though!
Kim Beaulieu
Hi Colleen. Yikes, well that just put me on the bad blogger list. I can't believe I did that. I may have accidentally deleted info when updating. Not good! So, thank you for the heads up. I'll go fix this up right now.
Thank you SO much for the heads up. And how polite you were. A lot of readers would not have been so kind. Much appreciated.