Cheese balls (and their fraternal twin, cheese rings), are revered at my family’s holiday gatherings (while my husband’s family cherishes Crab Stuffed Mushrooms, another great holiday appetizer). Every Christmas Eve, my grammy makes an epically delicious, heart-stoppingly rich pecan cheddar cheese ball with strawberry preserves. My sisters and I are so enamored with this particular recipe that we start talking about it at Thanksgiving and will continue to discuss its merits up until the very moment we are devouring it (at which point we will still talk about how good it is, but with our mouths full). Then, shortly after the plate with the cheese ball has been licked clean, we’ll start talking about how incredible it was and how much we wish there was more of it. We’ve been doing this 10 years running, and I do not suspect we will ever stop. In other cream cheese ball–related formative experiences, I have memories of being 11 years old and begging my mom to serve a port wine cheese ball on New Year’s Eve (that is, when she wasn’t already serving Cheese Fondue). I don’t have any idea how I knew what port wine even was, let alone that it could correspond with a cheese ball recipe. Yet here we are. Twenty++ years later, and this lady still loves to herself a good cream cheese ball during the holidays. Even sometimes I zest up the occasion with a Pineapple Cheese Ball! Today’s simple cheese ball recipe is an amalgamation of the assorted cheese balls I remember eating growing up. It’s part my grammy’s, part my mom’s, and part improv based on the ingredients I usually have in my pantry.
About This Cream Cheese Ball Recipe
The base of this recipe is two cheeses: cheddar cheese and cream cheese. My grammy’s cheddar cheese ball also uses blue cheese and mayo, but given that I never have mayo on hand and blue cheese can be a little divisive, I decided to try the recipe with the cream cheese and cheddar cheese only. WILD SUCCESS. The next ingredient is strawberry preserves. If this sounds odd, you’ve never been to a Midwestern potluck, where a block of cream cheese topped with a layer of preserves (usually pepper jelly) is widely known and accepted as the easiest, most universally devoured party appetizer of all time. If you haven’t tried it, you really must at some point soon. Very soon. If you prefer or have a different flavor of preserves on hand, any berry or apricot-based fruit preserve or thick jelly will work nicely in this cream cheese ball recipe. My grammy serves her cheddar cheese ball recipe with strawberry preserves (and we almost always have some lurking on the refrigerator top shelf), so that’s what I chose. Final cream cheese ball mix-ins: garlic and a dash of hot sauce. The hot sauce offsets the sweetness of the preserves. The cool cream cheese tones it down, so the cheese ball tastes balanced and not overtly spicy by any means. By the time I had all the ingredients mixed in, I was licking the cream cheese mixture right off the spoon, an image that might throw you off only if you haven’t made a cheese ball from scratch yourself. Once you do, you’ll understand how naturally this kind of incident can occur. Now, a cheese ball does not look ultra glamorous on its own, which to me is a part of its appeal. That said, it certainly doesn’t hurt the appearance (and it absolutely sends the flavor over the top) to roll the cream cheese ball in chopped toasted pecans. The pecans’ nuttiness and crunch are the elements that catapult this cheese ball to a level of esteem that has had my family and I gushing about cheese balls for decades. (Pecans also pair beautifully with goat cheese in this Goat Cheese Balls recipe.)
Cream Cheese Ball Recipe Adaptations
Cheese Ball with Bacon. Cook and crumble 3 strips of bacon. Let cool completely, then mix the crumbles in with the cheddar cheese in Step 1. Proceed with the recipe as directed.Cheese Ball with Ham. Place 6 ounces of finely shaved deli ham in the food processor with one quarter of a yellow onion. Pulse until finely chopped. Add the cream cheese, cheddar, hot sauce, garlic powder, and salt. Process until smooth. Turn out onto the plastic wrap and proceed with the recipe as directed.Cream Cheese and Green Onions Cheese Ball. Finely chop 2 green onions. Add the white and light green parts with the cheddar in Step 1. Mix the green parts with the pecans in Step 4 and roll on the outside as directed, omitting the parsley.Cream Cheese Ball Dessert. Totally different but also good! We don’t have a family recipe for this, BUT I can vouch for this Chocolate Cheesecake Dip, which is heavenly. Serve it in a dish and dip with vanilla wafers, pretzels, or holiday Oreo cookies.
Final Cream Cheese Ball Recipe Notes
For dipping, we opt for a buttery cracker like Ritz. Don’t hold back. After all, it’s a cream cheese ball.You better believe that my grammy makes her recipe with all full-fat ingredients. Reduced-fat cream cheese still tasted plenty rich for us, but it’s the holidays, so I’ll leave the final level of decadence up to you.
