For party hors d’oeuvres, a trio of cheese balls

By Nora Singly, THEKITCHN.COM

Going to a New Year’s fete? Taking the requisite bottle of Champagne? And perhaps something nice to share? May we offer a suggestion? (Last question, promise.)
With festive, globe-like appearance, these cheese balls could practically be hung like luminous ornaments on a tree. But they’re much better consumed. And because they’re so soft and spreadable, they make somewhat easier party food than that awkward wedge of cheese that you struggle to maneuver delicately onto a cracker. From a seed-encrusted goat cheese ball with caramelized shallots and cucumber, to a blue-cheese option with homemade candied nuts, to a punchy English cheddar ball spiked with olives, dijon, lemon and dill, there’s something here for everyone.

I loved coming up with these recipes. What I learned was that the flavor combinations are truly endless; subbing in different cheeses, herbs and other add-ins yields interesting results, and I encourage it! Use these recipes as templates and experiment to suit your taste.

The one ingredient that unites each cheese ball is cream cheese. Even a harder cheese like cheddar becomes creamy when blended with the stuff. So just as long as you keep the cream cheese in the recipe to act as your base, substitute freely. You’ll end up with something fun, just a little bit different to take to a party, and best of all, homemade.

Serve with baguette, seeded or nut breads, crackers and crudites such as radishes, spears from the heart of celery, endive leaves, slices of raw fennel, blanched green beans and broccoli.

A few tips before starting your cheese ball quest:

• Make sure all cheeses are at room temperature before starting. If your cheeses are too cold, they won’t blend into a cohesive mass. After mixing, your base will be quite soft (especially the goat cheese ball). Scrape onto a piece of parchment or plastic wrap, place into a small bowl (which will encourage a round-ish shape), chill in the fridge, and then form your ball.
• Make them ahead of time! This is what’s especially great about these little balls o’ joy. If you make the actual cheese ball in advance, the flavors will meld and infuse through the cheese. They’ll also have more time to get firm.
• Make your coating separately from the cheese ball itself. Each of these recipes has a coating that the cheese ball is rolled in before serving. We’ve separated the steps and ingredients for the coatings; make your coating and place it in a large dish before rolling the cheese ball.
• Coat with the outer crust just before serving. With any of the surface embellishments — nuts, seeds, or herbs — it’s better to roll the balls before serving, rather than in advance, to prevent discoloration of the herbs and to ensure crunchy nuts and seeds. However, for convenience, you can of course roll them before you go to a party.

Cheddar and Olive Cheese Ball With Dijon, Lemon and Dill

For the coating:
• 1/2 cup (packed) dill fronds, finely chopped
For the cheese ball:
• 1/4 pound sharp cheddar cheese (preferably English farmhouse), finely grated and at room temperature
• 4 ounces ( 1/2 standard package) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup pitted green olives, preferably nyon, picholine or arbequina, roughly chopped
• 1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
• Large pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Combine the cheddar and cream cheese in the bowl of a food processor. Blend to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the olives, lemon zest, cayenne and dijon, and pulse until the olives are quite fine. Season to taste with salt, pepper and additional cayenne, if desired. Transfer contents to piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap and place in a small bowl. Chill until very firm, about 2 hours, or up to 3 days in advance.

Using your hands and keeping the cheese in its wrapping, gently mold it into a ball. If the ball becomes too soft, chill it again in the plastic wrap or parchment until ready to serve. (If you are in a hurry, you can put the cheese in the freezer for 1 hour.)

Just before serving, roll the ball in the dill. If you have difficulty making the dill stick to the ball, the ball may be too cold, in which case let it sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes, until the surface becomes a bit more tacky. Makes 1 ball.

Goat Cheese Ball With Chives, Cucumber and Caramelized Shallot

For the coating:
• 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1 teaspoon Maldon salt or flaky fleur de sel
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
For the cheese ball:
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 4 large shallots, thinly sliced
• 4 ounces ( 1/2 standard package) cream cheese, softened
• 6 ounces goat cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons minced chives
• 1/2 medium cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced (about 1/2 cup diced)
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the poppy, sesame and caraway seeds, and toast just until the sesame seeds turn golden, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl and add Maldon salt and pepper. Stir to combine.

Add the olive oil to the same skillet over medium-low heat. Add the shallots, season generously with salt, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft and deeply golden, for about 15 minutes. Do not let brown. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Combine the cream cheese and goat cheese in the bowl of a food processor. Blend to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the chives, cooled shallots, and cucumber and pulse 5 to 6 times, or more if you’d like the shallots and cucumber in smaller pieces. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper. Transfer contents to a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap and place in a small bowl. Chill until very firm, for about 2 hours, or as many as 3 days in advance. (If you are in a hurry, you can put the cheese in the freezer for 1 hour.)

Using your hands and keeping the cheese in its wrapping, gently mold it into a ball. If the ball becomes too soft, chill again in the plastic wrap or parchment until you are ready to serve.

Just before serving, roll the ball in the seed mixture, tossing to coat. Serve with nutty whole-grain crackers. Makes 1 ball.

Blue Cheese Ball With Candied Almonds

You can use a combination of nuts if you like, but if you only have one variety on hand, just use that.

For the candied nut coating:
• 2 tablespoons water
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon packed light-brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sprigs thyme, leaves only, plus additional for garnish
• 1/2 cup blanched sliced almonds, toasted
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts, toasted
For the cheese ball:
• 1/3 pound creamy, soft blue cheese, softened (we used St. Agur, but other good options are Fourme D’Ambert, Cashel Blue, or Roaring Forties Blue)
• 4 ounces ( 1/2 standard package) cream cheese, softened
• Honey, for drizzling
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

To prepare the sugared nut coating: Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a rimmed baking pan with a nonstick baking mat or parchment paper. In a small saucepan, combine the water and granulated sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and boil, stirring, until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and let cool.
In a medium bowl, combine light-brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and thyme leaves. Add nuts and cooled simple syrup, and stir to coat. Transfer nuts to the prepared baking pan and spread in a single layer.

Bake, stirring every 5-10 minutes, until nuts are dry and toasted, for 30-35 minutes. To test for doneness, remove a single nut from oven and let cool. If they are crunchy and dry, the nuts are ready. Remove from the oven and let cool completely. Reserve.

To prepare the cheese ball: Combine the blue and cream cheeses in the bowl of a food processor. Blend to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Blue cheese tends to be salty and peppery, so you may not need additional seasoning.) Transfer the contents to a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap and place it in a small bowl. Chill until very firm, for about 2 hours, or as many as 3 days in advance.

Using your hands and keeping the cheese in its wrapping, gently mold into it into a ball. If the ball becomes too soft, chill again in the plastic wrap or parchment until ready to serve. (If you are in a hurry, you can put the cheese in the freezer for 1 hour.)

Just before serving, roll the ball in the candied nuts. Lightly drizzle the coated ball with honey and sprinkle with additional thyme leaves, if desired. If you have difficulty getting the nuts to stick to the ball, the ball may be too cold, in which case let it sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes, until the surface becomes a bit more tacky. Makes 1 ball.

Holiday Cheese Ball with Toasted Pecans and Port Wine

one 1-pound cheese ball

INGREDIENTS:
8-ounces cream cheese, room temperature
4-ounces blue cheese, room temperature
4-ounces cheddar cheese, grated
1/3 cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
1/4 cup Port wine
1 1/3 cup pecans (toasted and rough chopped)
2-3 tsp olive oil
salt to taste

crackers for serving
PROCEDURE:

You can mix this by hand but it’s easier to use an electric mixer with a paddle attachment so go ahead and add the 8-ounces of cream cheese to that, the 4-ounces of blue cheese, 4-ounces of grated cheddar and the diced cranberries and mix that on low speed, then add 1/4 cup port wine and mix that until it is nicely combined.

That will seem a little loose but that’s okay. You’ll want to use a spatula to scoop it onto a sheet of plastic wrap, then wrap the plastic wrap around it, shaping it into a ball. Then let it set up in the fridge for 2-3 hours.

Add a couple of tsp of olive oil to a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat and add 1 generous cup of pecans and toss those around and toast them until you can start to smell them toasting. Season them with salt and take them out of the pan to cool.

Before coating the cheese with the nuts, you’ll want to rough chop the nuts a little bit so they adhere a little better.

HINTS:
Roll the cheese ball in the chopped pecans 1/2 hour or so before serving and leave out at room temperature to soften a bit.

Cheese & eggs with Bill & Sheila

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