I discovered this creative dip on the Cooking Light website.  The flavors are wonderfully unique, a tiny bit sweet with a hint of chocolate!  The only changes I made were to truly caramelize the onions by cooking them over very low heat for about 45 minutes or more.  As the recipe is written, the onions are browned more then caramelized.  I also used balsamic vinegar reduction in place of the balsamic vinegar.  The reduction is sweeter with a thick syrup texture.

Polenta crisps make the perfect compliment to this fun dip.

Polenta Crisps

2 ¼ cups water

¾ cup polenta or medium grind cornmeal

½ tsp kosher salt

1½ tsp cumin seeds

Bring the water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add the salt and gradually pour in the polenta stirring well so it doesn’t get clumpy. Reduce heat to simmer, cover and let polenta cook for 15 - 20 minutes stirring occasionally. Be careful, polenta “spits” so use a long handled spoon to stir the hot polenta. You want to be certain that it cooks long and slowly for best results. The lower the heat and the longer the cooking process the better the polenta.

Once good and thick, remove from heat, and stir in the cumin seeds.

Spread the polenta out on to a WELL-OILED cookie sheet.  Cover with a piece of parchment paper and use a rolling pin to roll out as thin as possible.  Score into cracker sized pieces with a sharp knife.

Bake in a 350 degree oven about 45 minutes, until crispy and lightly brown at the edges. 

Before service, I like to place them back on an ungreased cookie sheet and pop them in a 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes.  This crisps them up nicely!

Note: I've played around with these a lot and get different results depending on what brand and grind of polenta/cornmeal I use.  Some brands require a longer baking time then others.  The baking time will also vary depending on how thin you rolled the polenta.  If your polenta is just not crisping up (as has happened with me), remove from oven and baking sheet and allow to cool and dry out a bit.  Close to service, place back on an ungreased cookie sheet bake at 350 until they crisp and brown.  The result is not truly a cracker as they maintain some pliability.