Zesty Cheese Ball
This easy snack was fun to throw together the day before a New Year's party. A ball of spicy, flavorful, eye-catching goodness that is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.
Ingredients:
- 2 blocks of cream cheese, softened
- 1 small block of spicy jack cheese or cheddar
- 1 bag of chopped pecans or chop some whole pecans
- 1/2 cup of hot sauce (Daily Driver)
- 1 tablespoon worcestershire (optional)
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
*If you want to do a smaller cheese ball, you can cut the ingredients in half
Instructions:
Shred the block of spicy cheese of your preference into a bowl. In this recipe, I used habanero jack cheese, but a pepper jack or buffalo cheddar could also work.
Add the hot sauce, worcestershire, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika, and stir it up so that everything is combined.
Toss in the softened cream cheese blocks and mix with a hand mixer or standing mixer. Here you can taste test the cheeseball. I wanted mine a bit hotter, so I added a bit more Daily Driver and a pinch more onion powder. You can add black pepper or some celery salt optionally as well.
Once it's tasting to your liking and is well incorporated lay out a large sheet of plastic wrap.
Place the cheese on one side of the wrap. Then fold the other side over. This is where you can start shaping it into a ball.
When you are happy with the shape, place this in the refrigerator for 3 hours or overnight so that it sets back up.
After the cheese is set, get a plate and pour out your pecan pieces onto it. Pull the cheese ball out of the wrap and place it onto the pecan pieces. With your hands carefully roll the cheese ball around in the pecans. I had to add more pecans on top to get some of the patchy areas.
When it's well covered, you're ready to enjoy! Get some crackers out and start dipping!
