The following recipe is not for the faint of heart. It’s rich and chock full of creamy, cheesy, goodness. It’s also a bit of a pain to make, but so, so worth it.

As it starts to get colder and holiday season approaches—it’s closer than you think—this great spinach and artichoke dip recipe from Houston’s Restaurant will really hit the spot. Houston’s is a restaurant with 13 locations in cities like Atlanta, Boston, and, thank goodness, New York. The restaurant’s website describes Houston’s as offering “diverse American classics”: think The Cheesecake Factory but with better food and better ambiance. The spinach and artichoke dip is one of their biggest draws, though. Countless part-time foodies have devoted plenty of HTML to trying to figure out what exactly it is Houston’s put in their dip to make it so delicious. Robbie Rice of robbiehaf.com gets it right. In fact, guessing at restaurant recipes is a big hobby of hers. She has a whole section of the site dedicated to “copycat recipes”. Here’s her dip recipe:

Serves: 12
Prep. Time: 0:40

2 cloves garlic – minced
2 Tbls. minced onion
1/4 cup real butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups heavy cream
1/4 cup chicken broth
2/3 cup fresh-grated Pecorino Romano cheese
2 tsp. fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1/2 tsp. hot sauce
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sour cream
(2) 10 oz. boxes frozen chopped spinach – thawed, squeezed dry
12 oz. jar artichoke hearts – drained, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup shredded white cheddar cheese

-In a 2-quart saucepan over medium heat, sauté garlic and onion in butter until golden, about 3 – 5 minutes.
-Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.
-Slowly whisk in cream and broth and continue cooking until boiling.
-Once boiling, stir in Romano, lemon juice, hot sauce, and salt; stir until cheese has melted; remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
-Stir sour cream into pan, then fold in dry spinach and artichoke hearts.
-Fold the mixture into a microwave-safe serving dish, or into several serving-size dishes.
-Sprinkle cheddar evenly over top(s).
-At this point, the dip can be refrigerated until ready to serve, if desired.
-Microwave dip on 50% power just until cheese has melted.

Robbie suggests serving the dip with tortilla chips, but experience says warm baguette slices are the way to go. If you’re feeling really fancy, you can put the whole thing in a bread bowl. For reviews from the people who’ve tried her recipe and loved it, click here. Enjoy!