This Cheeseball Recipe is the Perfect Thanksgiving or Christmas Holiday Appetizer

When it gets close to Thanksgiving, or Christmas or Easter, there must be some secret smell in the air. Be it the crispness of fall, winter or spring, our family has its antenna up for the beginning of holiday grub. We always start talking about appetizers, main courses, and all things sweet. Menu planning commences and everybody is quick to get their dubs in for something they’re having a hankering for. 

When I grew up and started planning recipes, one of the first items in the feast prep was always the cheese ball. We made one every year and I think we had a million of them over time. Let’s see, there were some riveting presentations. A memorable one had cream cheese, jalapenos, bacon and sour cream. It was a hit, kind of, after you got over the heat and slugged down three cups of milk in quick succession. Another one of note had cream cheese, dried cranberries, shredded Havarti and sweetened pecans. It was tasty and ranked high with almost everyone. Then the other two little jewels that had us chatting was the cream cheese with pimento cheese, chives and coarse ground pepper. That was a doozy. The last one was a real charmer, cream cheese, hot sauce, Tony Chachere’s seasoning and Swiss cheese. I don’t know which one of us came up with it, but it was a non-starter at our house. Every ingredient in it was good, but there had to be a better combo.

In our family, we started a tradition making varying cheeseballs over the years and it seemed that no matter how many ingredients we added, we eventually got back to the basic one. So, start your very own cheeseball recipe search. Our standout takes seven minutes to make, has four ingredients, and remains our favorite for all time.

Cheeseball

Recipe by: Karen Hand Allen (www.karenhandallen.com)

This simple cheeseball is the ult quintessential holiday appetizer at its best-crunchy, savory and so satisfying it will have partygoers asking who made it and could they please have the recipe!  It’s not just the fresh creamy tang of cream cheese, nor the bite of the sharp cheddar cheese. It is the rich, buttery, nutty flavor of the Texas pecans; they’re undoutably the star of the show. That and the just-right seasonings of Hidden Valley Ranch Dip Mix. Not complicated or flashy, this little prize will be the highlight for your next soiree or holiday celebration that revellers are sure to go nuts for! 

Cheeseball Recipe.pdf

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Serves: 16

Prep Time: 6 mins | Cook Time: None | Rest Time: None | Total Time: 6 mins

Ingredients: Two 8 oz packages of cream cheese 8 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese 1 package ranch dip powder 1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Directions: Put Cream cheese in a large mixing bowl, mashing with a fork until smooth. Add Cheddar cheese, stirring to incorporate. Add Hidden Valley Ranch seasoning, mix well. Form mixture into a roll. Lay foil down, roll mixture in nuts, coating all over. Serve with Ritz crackers.