Cheeseballs have been a New Year's Eve tradition in our family for as long as I can remember. They start appearing at Thanksgiving, at my Grandma's house, and then again at Christmas, and making one final debut for the year on New Years Eve. Are you a cheeseball lover? I sure am, but especially for this particular recipe.
What New Year's Eve snack do you have each year?
I've only tried store-bought cheeseball a few times, I've never been super impressed with them. The ones I've tried taste like that have easy cheese or something too soft and too fake for me. This cheeseball is inspired from my Grandma King's recipe. She has told us she does it a little different each time, so we've tried over the last few years to nail down what we love, and I think we've got it.
Leesh and I love cheeseball. We don't live very close - about 10 hours away from each other. But when we were together right before Christmas you better believe that cheeseball was involved. We love this cheeseball so much in fact - we might have cleaned off an entire block of cream cheese just by ourselves while we were chatting and snacking after our kiddos were in bed.
The recipe is simple - and comes together in 10 minutes or less. The blue cheese can be optional but it's what "makes the cheeseball" for us. We are blue cheese lovers! Our kiddos even love it! We serve it with crackers. I'm a huge fan of Wheat Thins and Triscuits. But it will work on any kind of cracker you love too!
We hope this is something you'll try out for your New Year's Eve party this year.
Try it and then tell us about it. We with you a Happy New Year.
Cheeseball
2 blocks cream cheese (full or less fat), softened to room temperature
½ cup crumbled blue cheese, more or less to taste (optional, but recommended)
2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon McCormick Bon Appetit seasoning salt blend (see *note* below for substitute) OR 2 tablespoons ranch powder
8 ounces sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated
1 cup nuts, chopped (optional) I prefer pecans or almonds
Directions:
*Note* - you can use ¼ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon ground celery seed, ½ teaspoon onion powder in place of the McCormick Bon Appetit seasoning salt.
Chop nuts fine and leave in a small plate or dish for rolling the cheeseball in
In a medium size mixing bowl mix the cream cheese, blue cheese, worcestershire sauce, and seasoning of choice together. Once mixed thoroughly add the shredded cheddar cheese and mix until incorporated. Roll into a ball (I like to wear plastic disposable gloves so I don’t have to clean it all off my hands), and then roll into ball (or you can simply put it in a serving dish without it being a ball) and then roll to coat the outside in the chopped nuts. If you are going to serve immediately place on a serving dish with crackers. If you aren’t going to use til later, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge until ready to serve.
Recipe Source:
Inspired by our Grandma Kathy King’s famous cheeseball.
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