Christmas Tree Shaped Cheese Ball

cheese ball

Cheese balls, they’re the perfect party food! You can make them into the shape of a round ball, a log, I’ve seen them shaped as footballs, pumpkins, birds, reindeer, snowman I could go on and on.

Since we’re deep into the holidays right now I made this festive looking cheese ball that’s shaped into a Christmas tree.

muffuletta salad

The key ingredient in this cheeseball is muffuletta salad, it comes in a jar and it’s pretty easy to find. Jars may vary ingredients but normally they’re filled with things like Kalamata and green olives, red peppers, cauliflower, carrots, garlic, capers and some spices. If you can’t find muffuletta salad you can sub in an olive salad which is similar and just as good.

cheese ball ingredients

You’ll want to drain the salad of any excess oil really well, then add it to a mix of cream cheese and mascarpone.

Honestly when all is blended together there’s no need to add anything else except some fresh chives if you like.

cheese ball mixturecone shape cheese ball

After everything is blended together shape it all into a cone for your “tree”.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and place it into the fridge for a few hours so it can harden up again. Then you can fine tune your tree with an offset spatula to shape it better and make it smooth all around when it comes out of the fridge.

tree shaped cheese ball

Press chopped parsley onto the cone shape to make it look like a tree, then begin to decorate it by added nuts, peppers or whatever your creative mind wants to do, there’s no set rules, make it your own.

xmas tree cheese ball

I placed a star on top made of cheddar cheese, just do it freehand. At this point if I loosely drape it with plastic wrap it can sit in my fridge for a couple of days ahead to serve at a party and it will be just fine.

One thing to keep in mind is that you’ll want to serve this cheese ball with fairly sturdy crackers to hold up to the dipping, flimsy crackers just won’t do.

Start your holiday party off with this festive Christmas tree cheese ball, it’s a showstopper, it’s fun to eat and you and your guests will love it!

Christmas Tree Shaped Cheese Ball
 
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Ingredients
  • 2 8oz, packages of full fat cream cheese, room temp
  • 1 16oz, container of mascarpone cheese, room temp
  • 1 heaping cup of muffuletta salad or olive salad, drained well of excess oil
  • 3 tablespoons of FINELY grated cheese like cheddar or mozzarella
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • snipped chives, optional
  • chopped parsley, enough to go around the "tree"
  • 1 piece cheddar cheese to make a star shape
  • almond slices, chopped red peppers and whatever else you want to decorate your cheeseball tree with
Instructions
  1. Combine the mascarpone, cream cheese, grated cheese along with the muffuletta salad and chives into a large bowl.
  2. With a hand mixer on low speed blend everything together.
  3. Taste for seasoning or if you want to add more of something else.
  4. on a small cookie sheet or tray place a sheet of wax paper down and then plop the cheese mixture onto that.
  5. Place plastic wrap over your hands and start to form the cone as best you can. Check your hight and width.
  6. Keep the formed cone shape on the pan and place the whole thing into the fridge loosely covered with plastic wrap and let it harden for a few hours or even overnight if you want.
  7. Remove from fridge and on the same tray press in the chopped parsley all over your cone.
  8. Decorate it with the nuts and peppers and make sure you cut out a star with cheddar cheese for the topper.
  9. If loosely draped with plastic wrap this can stay in the fridge for a couple of days before serving.
  10. When ready to serve place a large spatula underneath the tree and lift it onto your serving platter.
  11. Scatter sturdy crackers all around.
  12. Enjoy!

 

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Cucina Italiana!

Cucina Italiana! That was the name of a cooking class that I was asked to host this past Friday. The theme was Italian Appetizers! Recently we became members of a local Italian American Club and once a month a different member gets asked to host a cooking class. After much thought I decided on doing 4 appetizers. The photo above is of Crispy Shrimp w/White Bean & Rosemary Bruschetta. It’s actually made with canned cannellini beans mashed up with garlic, parsley, rosemary and olive oil, slathered on a toasted baguette slice, then garnished with one crispy shrimp.
Next, was a Grilled Polenta Cake w/Roasted Tomatoes & Sausage, I made the polenta seasoned with Parmesan cheese, olive oil. After it was cooked I spread it all out on a cookie sheet to cool, then cut the polenta into circles with a cookie cutter. The roasted tomatoes were then placed on the warm polenta and garnished with a slice of Italian sausage.

I also made Mini Meatball Sliders that I did a previous post on. Homemade mini meatballs cooked up in a nice marinara,placed on toasted mini buns garnished with arugula.

It was a very casual and informal event, just the way I like it! Everyone gathered around in my kitchen drinking wine, laughing and eating while Italian music played in the background.

And last but not least, was a Creamy Pesto Cheese Ball. This is a really nice appetizer to serve with wine and to mingle with. It’s very simple you just have to allow time to chill it.

INGREDIENTS

2 8oz packages of cream cheese (room temp)

4 oz of Mascarpone cheese (also room temp)

1/4 cup of prepared pesto

1/2 cup of grated Parmesan

toasted pine nuts

basil and sun dried tomatoes for garnish

In food processor mix together pesto and 3 cheeses and blend till completely mixed.

Line a round bowl with plastic wrap, place basil and sun dried tomatoes on bottom. Scoop cheese mixture into bowl. Pack down firmly and refrigerate for 3 hours. Remove from bowl, take off wrap, place on platter and press pine nuts on the outside of cheese ball. You can then place it back in the frig till 1 hour before serving. Serve with your favorite crackers or mini toasts!

Oh, and by the way I wasn’t crazy to cook all that in front of everyone, I made most of it ahead of time, and all I had to do was talk and give a demo as I was putting it all together.

That pretty much wraps up our Cucina Italiana, it was a fun night with a great group of people!

Buon Appetito!

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