My Holiday Cheese Ball

*Ok, so I started this post at about 8:00 a.m. this morning and well I got distracted cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the tiny dictator and here I find myself at 3:21 p.m. just now getting back to this post.  Such is my exciting life*   

Around Thanksgiving I bought a cheese ball at the grocery store, call it nostalgia.  My grandmother Pounds always had a cheese ball at her house at Thanksgiving and Christmas and I bought one on a whim.  And as it usually goes, I got it home and it was okay but that's about it. 

This of course got me to thinking about homemade cheese balls and that maybe I could make one that was better than the bland thing I had bought at the store. 

I pulled down a couple of my cookbooks and no one recipe had exactly what I was looking for, so I combined several and came up with this.   This recipe makes two good sized cheese balls, one to share and one to keep at home for you.  Or you could just eat both, it's not like that's what happened to my first two....

This is a sharp, spicy cheese ball but you can easily reduce the amount of Cayenne and it would still be good.  It can be made plain or add in some cubed ham and green onion. 

My hubby gave this two thumbs up and believe it or not he's pretty honest with me about my food.  He will tell me whether or not something is good or bad i.e. the ricotta pie that shall forever live in infamy.  Just ask him about it some time. 

So gather up your ingredients and let's get started!

 

 

Spicy Holiday Cheese Ball

 

1 eight ounce block extra sharp cheddar cheese shredded

1 eight once block cream cheese

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 Tablespoon Worchester sauce

1/2 Teaspoon Paprika

1/2 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (adjust to your taste)

1/2 Teaspoon black pepper

1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder

1 Tablespoon dry minced onion

1/4 Teaspoon salt

1/4 Teaspoon chili powder

1 cup chopped pecans

 

Optional Ingredients

2 green onions

1/4 cup chopped ham

 

Let both cheeses come to room temperature and then combine all ingredients except the nuts.  Combine well and then cover bowl with saran wrap and refrigerate for a few hours.   After chilling, form two balls and roll in the chopped nuts.  That's it!  Wrap in tinfoil and keep refrigerated.  When you get ready to serve, pull the cheese ball out and let come to room temperature.  Serve with your favorite crackers.  Super easy and I guarantee this will blow the store bought grocery store bland cheese balls out of the water. 

 

Hope you are having a great New Year's Eve.  I'm off to go get ready to go to a friends' camp house and eat grilled doves, gumbo, chili, and goodness knows what else.   Please let me know if you make this and what you think.  I'd love to hear what you thought! 

 

Have a great day my lovelies.  Until next year!