Mrs. TVWB made this for our family pre-Christmas get-together and it was a big hit. Tasted great, fun and festive!
Original recipe from Dawn Lopez at Cutefetti.
Reindeer Cheese Ball
Ingredients
- Two 8-ounce blocks of cream cheese, softened at room temperature
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 8-ounce block medium cheddar cheese, shredded by hand
- One 1-ounce packet of Hidden Valley Original Ranch Salad Dressing & Seasoning Mix
- 2 cups roughly chopped pecans
- 2 medium pitted black olives for eyes
- 1 small round cherry or grape tomato for nose
- 2 regular-sized pretzels for antlers, e.g. Snyder's Olde Tyme Pretzels
Instructions
- In a large bowl, blend the softened cream cheese and sour cream using a hand mixer until smooth and combined.
- Add the shredded cheddar cheese and 2 TBSP of the ranch seasoning mix, using the hand mixer to combine. If you want more ranch flavor, use the entire packet. The original recipe says that the ranch flavor will get stronger when the cheese ball is chilled.
- Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap that's large enough to contain the entire cheese ball and be twisted shut. Transfer the cheese mixture onto the plastic wrap, using a spatula to shape it roughly into a ball shape, then bring the plastic wrap up and around to form the mixture into a ball and twist it shut. Mrs. TVWB rolled the wrapped cheese around on the countertop to perfect the shape into a neat ball.
- Refrigerate the wrapped cheese ball overnight.
- When ready to serve, remove the plastic wrap and roll the cheese ball in the chopped pecans. You can place the nuts on a plate or in a pie tin; Mrs. TVWB placed them in a mixing bowl and used gloved hands to roll around the cheese ball, pressing the nuts into the surface until coated.
- To decorate, press two large pretzels into the cheese ball as antlers. Use toothpicks cut in half to attach the tomato as a nose and olives as eyes. The nose should be low on the cheese ball and the eyes placed fairly far apart--too close and the reindeer looks angry! Toothpicking the olives to the cheese ball can be tricky, as there's not a lot of olive flesh to stick the pick into. The original recipe suggests the alternative of using pretzel sticks to hold the pitted olives and tomato on the cheese ball.
- Provide a variety of crackers and you're all set. Mrs. TVWB also included some fresh veg in the form of celery sticks and some of the leftover tomatoes.
