Cheese ball チーズボール

This is a recipe from a very dear friend who passed away this fall after a short but intense battle with cancer. She had been a friend of the family for many years and every Christmas, she made these cheese balls which she served at holiday dinners and gave as gifts. Over time they came to symbolize the holidays and festive fun. As a tribute to her, In her absence, and to reignite the joy she contributed to the holidays we decided to try making a batch ourselves.

Ingredients: 1 lb cream cheese, 1 lb Wisconsin Pride Cheese Whiz (WisPride Aged Cheddar) , 1 lb blue cheese, 3 garlic cloves crushed, 3tbs Worcestershire sauce, toasted walnuts or pecans (This will make a bit over 6 cheese balls).

Bring cheeses to room temperature (this will make mixing a lot easier). All the cheeses eventually have to be creamed together in the mixer. I found the blue cheese was the hardest to cream and actually stayed in small pieces as shown in the bottom picture. For this reason I suggest starting with the blue cheese by putting it in a mixer and mixing until it is creamed. Then add the other ingredients and mix until fully incorporated. I then rolled small handfuls into a ball and put them on a parchment covered cookie sheet in the refrigerator until they firmed up a bit. Then I rolled them in the chopped toasted nuts. The nuts actually helped stabilize the cheese into a round shape.

These were a remarkable facsimile of the famous cheese balls our friend used to make. While making them it was fun remembering all the good times we had together while eating them. Since her son and daughter are also trying their hand at making these cheese balls we are planning a cheese ball tasting to see who did the best justice to “mom’s” recipe.