Party Cheese Balls: 3 Killer 10-minute Recipes. Great snack to serve at parties together with crackers, chips or baguette. Easy and impressive appetizer!
- Goat cheese, dried figs and walnuts
- Blue cheese, dates and pomegranate seeds
- Mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, basil and pine seeds.
It takes less than 10 minutes to make each of them!
For those, who are interested, I’m spending New Year’s eve with my family in Moscow and I plan to make the traditional New Year’s festive Russian salad which is actually called “Olivier”. I’ve been asked countless times over the years about Russian Christmas.
“Wait, is it in the beginning of January?”, “How do you celebrate Christmas in Russia?”, “What do you eat for Christmas in Russia?”
The answer is: you don’t celebrate Christmas in Russia, you celebrate the New Year’s Eve with all the Western attributes of Christmas: Christmas (New Year’s) tree, gifts, festive table and Russian Santa (Ded Moroz).
Russian New Year is an equivalent of Western Christmas mixed with New Year’s eve with a bit of Soviet flair. You drink champagne, you eat clementines, Olivier salad and caviar toasts.
You wait for the president’s speech about how hard was this year and what are the expectations for the next one. During one of these New Year’s speeches Yeltsin announced his retirement and introduced V.Putin as his successor.
You wait until the clock on one of Kremlin towers ring 12 times and the national anthem is played. Then you watch fireworks and a traditional New Year’s movie. It doesn’t matter with whom you are celebrating, with your family, friends or in a restaurant with your spouse, these attributes are always present.
The official orthodox Christmas is on 7th of January though. There are people who celebrate it for religious reasons but the majority don’t celebrate it. There are 10 days of holidays starting from the 31st of December, so Christmas is officially the day off. But unless you are religious, you don’t celebrate it at all.
It comes from Soviet times, when religion was forbidden and now, 24 years after, we still do this: New Year’s parties with your colleagues from work before the holidays, New Year’s gifts under the New Year’s tree, children’s New Year parties with Santa and sweets. So for me, all the fun is yet to come 🙂
How to Make Party Cheese Balls
As for the party cheese balls, I will have them on my New Year’s table. They are good any time anywhere. Addition to your cheese plate? Yes. Impressive looking appetizer for a party? Yes. A gift for a host which everybody will love? Yes. Cheese balls are good any time anywhere.
Together with Pears and Blue Cheese Appetizer, they would be a nice addition to your New Year’s eve party table, as well as to any other party or perhaps a date night in.
Eat them with chips, fresh baguette or crackers. Make them with any cheese you like. Coat them with any nuts, seeds or herbs.
To make cheese balls, combine cream cheese like Philadelphia or any other soft or cottage cheese with the cheese you like, add dried fruits, herbs or nuts, form balls and roll them in ground nuts or herbs. Make them spicy by adding a pinch of chili powder or cayenne pepper.
Make them crunchy by adding more nuts. Make them softer by adding soft goat cheese. Experiment with flavors by adding different dried fruits or herbs like parsley, chives or dill. Here are three recipes to inspire you:
3 Party Cheese Ball Recipes
Ingredients
Goat cheese, dried figs and walnuts
- 150 grams or 2/3 cup cream cheese
- 80 grams or 3 oz soft goat cheese
- 40 grams or 1/4 cup dried figs chopped
- salt
- black pepper
- 40 grams or 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
- 150 grams or 2/3 cup cream cheese
Blue cheese, dates and pomegranate seeds
- 80 grams or 3 oz blue cheese
- 40 grams or 1/4 cup dried dates chopped
- 1 pomegranate deseeded
- 150 grams or 2/3 cup cream cheese
- 80 grams or 3 oz ground mozzarella
Mozzarella, sundried tomatoes, basil and pine seeds
- 40 grams or 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil
- salt
- black pepper
- 40 grams or 1/3 cup chopped pine seeds
- crackers fresh baguette or chips to serve
Instructions
- Goat cheese, dried figs and walnuts: In a bowl, combine cream cheese, soft goat cheese, dried figs, a pinch of salt and black pepper. Take a tablespoon of this mixture and form a ball with your wet hands. It’s useful to keep a bowl with water to dip your fingers in after every ball. Roll each ball in chopped walnuts to cover. Serve with crackers, fresh baguette or chips. Enjoy!
- Blue cheese and pomegranate seeds: Break blue cheese with a fork and combine with cream cheese and chopped dates in a bowl. Take a tablespoon of this mixture and form a ball with your wet hands. It’s useful to keep a bowl with water to dip your fingers in after every ball. Roll each ball in pomegranate seeds to cover. Serve with crackers, fresh baguette or chips. Enjoy!
- Mozzarella, sundried tomatoes
, basil and pine seeds: In a bowl, combine cream cheese, mozzarella, sundried tomatoes
Notes
Nutrition
What is your favorite party appetizer recipe? Does it include cheese?
I wish you a happy and delicious New Year!
Elena
ksenchan
Tuesday 29th of December 2015
Elena, it's always such a joy to hear others speak of their Russian New Year's Tradition. In my parents' house, everyone comes together for a masquerade ball, there are themed games and lots of drunked grandmothers.... So it's really a ball! I actually made Olivier salad for my boyfriend's Catholic family's Christmas this year, and I have to say that despite the 10 other dishes served, this and the humble borscht were everyone's favourites (and the first to go, despite having extras). So nice to see others enjoying the traditions we know and love.
And of course, these cheese balls - wow!!!! Love the simplicity and beauty of each little morsel. I am particularly interested in trying to sundried tomato ones, because when it comes to sundried tomatoes, my palette is still happily stuck in the 1980s.
S nastupayushim!!!
Elena Szeliga
Tuesday 29th of December 2015
Thank you so much for sharing your family tradition, Ksenia!! It's such a great tradition! It made me think about the movie "Carnival Night" with "5 minut" and young Gurchenko... I will rewatch it while in Moscow. Somehow, the simple food is always a hit! I plan to make pelmeni this week and get as much of Russia as possible during the next two weeks :) I'm craving Olivier, pirozhki, mimoza, shuba... I tebya s nastupayushim, dorogaya!