A holiday classic in these here parts, I give you a Christmas Cheeseball. Yes, you can make this any time of the year, but if you’re counting calories, you may want to make it only during the Christmas season. As I’ve said before, this blog is not going to teach you how to cook, so if you can’t figure out how to turn these ingredients into a cheeseball, well, you need help.
You’re going to need:
- 2 cups shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/2 pound Velveeta, “shredded”
- 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
- 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
- 1 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
The above makes up your cheeseball, and you’re going to roll it in:
- Chili powder
- Chopped roasted pecans
In a bowl combine your shredded cheddar cheese and Velveeta. If you’re ever tried to shred Velveeta, well, you know as well as I do that it’s more of a smear, so just treat it like cream cheese. The idea is to combine Velveeta and cheddar cheese together. I prefer extra sharp cheddar, but if you are a wimp (or your guests are) use sharp or mild.
Editor’s note: If you are from foreign lands that have not yet been blessed with Velveeta, look for any locally available processed cheese. For my Uruguayan friends, seek out Claldy Gambú.
Now, add your minced garlic, and don’t be afraid to use minced garlic from a jar or from a tube – the idea is to give this a garlicky kick and the cheeseball doesn’t care if it came from a tube, trust me. Add your Tabasco or whatever insanity sauce you want, along with a “Cajun seasoning”. All of the following are respectable:
Round things out with some black pepper and mold into a ball.
Then, grab your favorite chili powder and dust the ball with it making sure its nicely covered. Chop some roasted pecans and roll your cheeseball in them, taking liberty to “press” the pecans in a bit.
You should end up with something that looks a bit like this:
This is best served a day later (stored in the refrigerator of course), but can be eaten right away.
To serve, lay out a plate of crackers (not saltines, idiot). My favorites are:
- the venerable Nabisco Sociables
- the ever popular Club Cracker
- a plain Triscuit (don’t bother with the flavored Triscuits, they are crap and will just interfere with the cheeseball flavors)
- Chickin in a Biskit
or just a plain Ritz.
Enjoy!
