If there’s one dish that reminds me of the holiday season (from Christmas to New Years), it’s a good cheese ball. I remember as a child I used to help my mom make a dozen or so of these and we would give them out to neighbors and friends.

We’d save a few for ourselves of course and I would snack on them for days on end.

It really is one of my favorite appetizers. I’m not sure why but I don’t make it at any other point in the year than in December.

There are a lot of cheese ball recipes out there but this is my favorite one which I stole straight from my mom.

Cheese Ball

Yield: 1 Cheese Ball

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

8 ounces cream cheese
4 ounces sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 Tablespoon lemon juice (I used 1/2 a lemon)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (be sure to use vegetarian if you're feeding vegetarians)
1 Teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 bell pepper, minced
2 scallions, minced
1/2 Cup pecans, chopped
Crackers for serving

Directions:

1) Combine cheeses, chopped vegetables, and spices in a bowl. Stir well until combined.

2) Chop pecans and roll ball in pecans.

3) Chill the ball before serving if you have time.

Mixing the ball

This is a great recipe for kids to help out with. It has just a few ingredients and takes only a few minutes to pull together.

This is easiest to make if you let your cream cheese come to room temperature before you start. It’ll make the mixing easier, but you should be able to mix it no matter what.

Combine your cheeses in a medium bowl.

Then dice up and add all your green stuff. Make sure to mince the veggies finely so there aren’t any huge chunks.

Toss those into the mix.

Next, add all the spices! Remember that Worcestershire sauce isn’t vegetarian. It has anchovies in it! So if you have vegetarian guests you can use the veggie version which tastes almost identical in my opinion.

Stir this all together really well.

Rolling the ball

If you’re lazy, you could just use the dip like this and spread it onto crackers right out of the bowl, but if you like a good presentation then chop a few handfuls of pecans and roll the cheese ball out in the pecans so it forms a tight round ball.

I think this is best if you let it sit in the fridge for an hour or two to set up but it’s definitely not essential.

You can also just eat it right away.

I like my cheese piled high and deep on my cracker.

While this appetizer reminds me of the holidays, I’m not really sure why. This is such a quick and delicious appetizer you should feel free to use for any occasion. Say New Year’s which is right around the corner!

Even though I ate 2 or 3 of these by myself over the last few days, looking over this post still makes me want more!