Bacon Cheddar Cheese Ball Spread

Karen=^..^='s Note:

After looking at many cheese ball recipes that didn't fit my family's tastes, I made one up to serve on New Year's Eve. Everyone loved and it was super simple to put together. I didn't roll my cheese ball in chopped nuts, but you could certainly do that or even roll it in additional crumbled bacon.

• Total Time: 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 16

• 8 ounces cream cheese, softened (I used light cream cheese)
• 1 -1 1/2 cup shredded extra-sharp cheddar cheese (I used Cabot's Seriously Sharp)
• 5 -6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1 teaspoon parsley flakes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried chives (or 1 tbl or so snipped fresh chives)
• 1 dash hot sauce
• 1 dash garlic powder
• chopped pecans (optional) or walnuts (optional)
• additional crumbled cooked bacon (optional)

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a med-large size bowl.
2. If your cream cheese is soft enough, you can stir this by hand or you can use a hand-mixer until well combined.
3. Spoon out onto plastic wrap big enough to fold over top and form cheese mixture into a smooth bowl, wrapping plastic wrap around ball to seal.
4. (If desired, roll cheese ball into chopped nuts or additional cooked and crumbled bacon before wrapping.).
5. Place in refrigerator for 1-2 hours so flavors blend.
6. Serve with crackers, bagel chips, veggies, etc.

Reviews

[CyndiCB]

I have made this cheese ball several times. I always add more garlic because we really like it. This recipe has tons of flavor and it is super easy to make. Thanks for sharing!

[campergramma]

Mine came out very hard and bland. I followed the recipe to a 't' and served it for Thanksgiving. I ended up throwing away more than half of it. I'm not sure what I could even have done to the recipe to save it. Sorry....

[sklhczech]

I made this for Christmas and instead of forming it into a ball, just packed it into a container and served it that way. It was wonderful and I will definitely be making it again. Thanks for a great recipe!