Festive Blue Cheese Balls
These Festive Blue Cheese Balls received rave reviews from my friends. Rolled in either dried cranberries or pistachios, they are a welcome addition to a cheese tray or appetizer platter!
Mini Cheeseballs are tasty and perfect for holiday entertaining. Add them to an appetizer spread or a cheeseboard and watch them disappear.
Why You Must Make
- A cheeseball surrounded by crackers is a staple at cocktail parties. Rolled in pecans, they usually have a cream cheese base and are filled with a variety of ingredients.
- For a twist, I’ve made these bite-sized and rolled them in dried cranberries and chopped pistachios!
- The red and green make these perfect for the holidays!
Both coatings add another texture to complement the creamy interior with a subtle pungency from the blue cheese. I served these to a group of my girlfriends over the lunch hour. Needless to say, they were a huge hit! I think these cheese balls may be one of my favorite holiday appetizers!
Ingredient Notes
- Kitchen Staples – Kosher Salt, Worcestershire Sauce, Hot Sauce
- Cream Cheese – at room temperature for easier blending
- Butter – at room temperature for easier blending
- Lemon Zest – Freshly zested. Don’t use the dried zest found in the spice aisle.
- Lemon Juice – Freshly squeezed.
- Blue Cheese – Crumbled. I used Maytag, but any favorite variety will work
- Red Currant Jelly – I used Wilkin & Sons Ltd. (Tiptree) brand
- Chopped Pistachios and Dried Cranberries (Craisins) – To garnish
Recipe Tips
- This easy cheese balls recipe is easily adaptable—use cheddar instead of blue cheese and roll in walnuts, or try feta or goat cheese!
- Another option is to make a large cheese ball or even a log. A blue cheese ball is perfect for entertaining any time of the year.
- Make these mini blue cheese balls small enough so you can enjoy them in 2 bites.
- Insert pretzel sticks into each ball for easy access.
- Serve this recipe for blue cheese balls with crackers of your choice.
- My friends seemed to prefer those rolled in cranberries—the sweetness played well off the blue cheese. But I love the look when offering two different coatings.
- Plus they’re all decked out for the holidays in red and green, but you definitely can use other nuts, dried fruit, bacon, or crushed crackers! Just make sure the coatings are chopped or crushed into small pieces for easy eating.
You May Also Like:
- Goat Cheese Apple Rosemary Thins from Reluctant Entertainer
- Smoked Salmon Cucumber Cream Cheese Appetizers, from Saving for Dessert
- Best Blue Cheese Salad Dressing
- Winter Salad with Apples, Pecans, Blue Cheese and Dried Cherries
- Spinach Pear Salad
- Beef Crostini
- Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
- Appetizer Recipes
Festive Blue Cheese Balls
Delectable bite sized blue cheese balls rolled in cranberries and pistachios
Ingredients
- 12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- 6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1-2 teaspoons lemon juice
- A dash of Worcestershire sauce
- A dash of hot sauce
- A pinch of kosher salt
- 2 ounces crumbled blue cheese, I used Maytag
- 1 tablespoon red currant jelly
- Chopped pistachios and dried cranberries to garnish
Instructions
- Add the first 7 ingredients (cream cheese through salt) to a mixing bowl.
- With a hand-held mixer, blend until smooth and well combined.
- Stir in blue cheese and jelly.
- Chill for about an hour.
- Roll into small balls, then roll into either pistachios or cranberries till coated.
Notes
May also roll in nuts or chopped crisp bacon.
Recommended Products
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 294Total Fat: 26gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 57mgSodium: 300mgCarbohydrates: 11gFiber: 2gSugar: 6gProtein: 6g
14 Comments on “Festive Blue Cheese Balls”
Cranberries and blue cheese are a mighty combo! Great idea to make them bite size, too. Thank you for the recipe =)
Gorgeous presentation and I think it’s time for a girlfriend gathering over here!
What a great and nice idea Liz for a party or an aperitif!
I love your serving dish, perfect for the cheese balls, or even truffles.
Love this recipe. These tasty bites are great for entertaining. They are festive and look delicious. Thanks for sharing and a very Happy New Year to you and your family.
These cheese balls look fab Luz, and very festive in their red and green. Happy New Year!
These cheese balls look yummy. I love the cheese and cranberry combination. They are perfect for any party! Liz, I wanted to stop by and wish you a Happy New Year!!
What a great idea to have ‘mini’ cheeseballs for appetizers! Love the blue cheese and cranberries together! Great recipe, Liz! Thanks for sharing it! (PS: I don’t know why I don’t get your posts by email anymore; maybe if you unscubscribe me and then I can try to re-subscribe, it might work).
Roz
I love a good cheeseball, and I agree with your friends — the combo of sweet dried cranberries and tangy blue cheese sounds fantastic. Happy new year, Liz!
Dear Liz, I love your presenation of these cute cheese balls – they sound utterly delicious – no wonder that they received rave reviews from your friends! And what festive colors too from the cranberries and pistachios!
Wishing you and your lovely family a very Happy New Year and all the very best!
Looking forward to many more of your delightful posts!
Andrea
Anything cheese is great bit love the bite-sized format and the outside is so festive in color. Happy New Year.
These cheese balls look delicious! Perfect festive appetiser! 🙂
They look so beautiful and festive!
Happy New Year, Liz!
Angie
Love them.
Wishing you Happy New Year