Holiday Eats - Give Me Your Best Cheese Ball recipe!

Parent Cafe
1

I post A LOT of food threads. :slight_smile: Love to eat, like to eat fun things!

Our family does a heavy appetizer spread on Christmas day - one of the best meals of the year!

I try to minimize the prep I’ll have to do Christmas morning because our time at home is limited before we have to head to the get together. Something made ahead of time (I’ll actually probably bring at least 3 different items) would help to take the prep stress off Christmas morning.

Enter the cheese ball. :slight_smile:

Very open to unique flavors and combinations. A basic one would not do! No dessert cheese ball (we did the famous chocolate chip cheese ball years ago…)

I’m currently looking at this one:
https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-blue-cheese-ball-with-dried-figs-and-honey-225905

Which does have some sweetness in it but the blue cheese keeps it def in the savory category.

Suggestions???

2

Thank you for starting the good food threads!!! They are always a hit and are much appreciated. :slight_smile:

At one party, I tried a smoked salmon cheeeseball. It was something like this but with crumpled smoked salmon instead of the canned:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/25515/salmon-cheese-ball/

I think I will make this for Christmas morning brunch.

3

This isn’t a cheese ball, but it’s a great cheese appetizer, which I just discovered: pimento cheese. Pimento cheese is really popular in NC where my D and son-in-law live (he’s in grad school at UNC). It’s not common in New England where I live and I recently served it to my book group. They wiped it out. Here’s the recipe I used:
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1017354-the-lee-brothers-pimento-cheese

I served it with pita chips.

4

^^^I’m laughing because pimento cheese is what TOTALLY got me thinking about cheese balls! I’ll look to see how it’s served above (prefer not to do something in the form of a sandwich).

Although if I had a good bread…it would be great for spreading??? Almost like on thin pieces of baguette??

Oh! I see you did it with pita chips! Could it be made a day ahead?

5

I just saw this on facebook today. I’m definitely going to attempt it for my party on Christmas Day: https://cafedelites.com/antipasto-cheese-ball-christmas-tree/. It sounds really tasty even if the tree shape doesn’t work out.

6

Pimiento cheese can just be served on crackers and I also like it with those colorful min peppers cut in half as well as celery sticks.

I usually do a Christmas cheese ball shaped like a pine cone like it is pictured here but I use different recipes and I use toasted whole pecans instead of almonds and rosemary for the green part.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/240702/pine-cone-cheese-ball/

I usually do one with cream cheese, blue cheese, and dried cranberries or a more classic shredded sharp cheddar, cream cheese and ranch mix.

I pinned this recently because I thought they looked interesting. The everything bagel one sounds especially good.
https://www.purewow.com/recipes/modern-cheese-ball-trio

7

Oh that pomegranate one!!! I’m inhaling pomegranates this year!

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I was looking at this pomegranate cheese ball recipe. I think there is also a pineapple one I need to find.
https://familyspice.com/pomegranate-cheese-ball/#rec-anchor

Hawaiian pineapple cheese ball
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=541VKPb3sww

9

A pseudo cheese log. a log of honey goat cheese and then roll it it crushed pistachios and diced dried cranberries. So simple and everyone loves it!

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I wonder how long in advance you can store the ones with the pomegranate arils on them. Arils are fragile and they might bleed. Might be a better thing to put/roll on right before serving.

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I think you let the arils to dry on a paper towel before putting them on.

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I would not put them on till just before serving. But that’s doable right at the house before serving.

13

That antipasto tree looks awesome!

14

An embarrassingly easy appetizer which is always a hit is a block of cream cheese topped with Terrapin Ridge hot pepper bacon jam. Serve with crackers.

15

Here’s how I make a really delicious chili cheese log. My mother has made this since the 50s and we still love it.
The hard part is finding the Old English cheese spread (this stuff - http://www.kraftrecipes.com/products/kraft-jar-cheese-old-english-sa-1093.aspx). For the longest time my store stopped carrying it but now they have it again.

Mix two jars of Old English Cheddar Cheese spread with an 8 oz bar of softened cream cheese. I guess you can use a mixer, but we always just put both cheeses in a bowl and cut it together with the side of a table knife until it was well mixed. Grate a little bit of onion into the mixture – it’s basically onion juice – maybe a couple of teaspoons. Mix well.

Tear off a large square of waxed paper and place flat on the counter. Pour about 1/4 cup of chili powder onto the waxed paper and then put half of the cheese mixture right on top of it. Now comes the tricky part. You want to roll the cheese into a log shape that’s coated on all surfaces with the chili powder. You have to sort of roll the waxed paper one way and then the other until it starts to elongate and you’ll probably have to add a little chili powder to cover the bare spots… When you have your log, roll it up into the waxed paper, twist the ends, and put it in the fridge to firm up. Do it again with the other half of the cheese and some more chili powder.

Once the logs are well-chilled and firm, they’re ready to serve. Unroll them from the waxed paper and put on a platter surrounded by Ritz crackers. Slice off a piece and spread it on the Ritz. Now here’s the best part – they taste amazing when served with a sweet pickle chip on top. I know it sounds nasty (at least it did to me when I was a kid) but it’s really delicious!

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I’ll admit to belonging to a food competitive family. I don’t need to search the earth for rare ingredients, but I definitely need and WANT to put forth more than a block of cream cheese and fancy jam - though it does sound delicious!!! I think I’m looking for something more substantial.

I agree the antipasto tree looks amazing! I would love to eat it!

17

This is an unbelievably delicious recipe–easy and makes 4 cheese balls that can be frozen! Highly, highly recommend! https://food52.com/recipes/32975-cheese-ball-with-pecans-and-dried-cranberries

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That does look delicious @SJTH - has good reviews too- thank you!

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I have made one cheese ball in my entire life–upon request–and to my amazement it was actually good. :slight_smile: I remember it had cream cheese, pineapple, and green pepper, plus maybe other stuff, and I think I got it from one of those Junior League cookbooks. It was great with triscuits. I think it was similar to this, which sounds so good that I will have to make it sometime! (I don’t recall nuts in mine.)

https://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2014/12/hawaiian-cheese-ball.html

My other suggestion would be to make this unbelievably scrumptious recipe from Sarah Leah Chase and form it into a ball then chill it:

1 1/2 lbs cream cheese at room temp
3TBS medium dry sherry (ie, Amontillado or Oloroso)
3 TBS light brown sugar
1TBS best-quality curry powder (note: I make my own madras curry powder, which is quite hot, but it’s up to you,)
1tsp ground ginger
1 tsp dry mustard
1 bunch scallions, trimmed and minced
2/3 cup mango chutney, finely chopped (Note: many supermarket mango chutneys are mostly sauce, and that will work fine, but I’ve discovered “Deep Home Style shredded mango pickle ‘Chundo’” at Indian stores --it’s not what we would call a pickle, not sour at all-- which is vastly superior. But again, I’m sure Sarah made it with the garden variety, as I have done in years past. :slight_smile: )
6 oz shredded good sharp cheddar cheese
Grated zest of 1 lime
6oz hickory-smoked almonds, coarsely chopped

Cream together in an electric mixer the cream cheese, sherry, brown sugar, curry, ginger, and mustard until well blended. Add the remaining ingredients and mix just to stir thoroughly. (This recipe is not suited to a food processor.) Chill for a few hours or more to allow flavors to blend.

It can be served with fruit or crackers, or used as a spread for tea sandwiches, but it would make a great cheese ball. In fact, I am going to do that this year!

20

Here comes my PSA: please, please do not use canned drained pineapple in anything. IMO, it is on the same list as Velveeta. Fresh pineapple is so much better! And if the task of cutting a pineapple does not appeal to you, many stores sell ready to eat cubes in their cut fruit section.