Party Cheese Ball

Cheese balls seem to be a traditional American party food and this was my very first attempt at making one for my annual Christmas Cookie Exchange with my British neighbors and friends. I had lots of questions asking what it was, but once they tasted it, they loved it! My only concern with making it here is that the UK's cream cheese is naturally softer, but it did hold form very well.

Ingredients:

16 oz (460g) Philadelphia Cream Cheese

8 oz (226g) shredded cheddar cheese

1 Tbsp finely chopped green onion

1 Tbsp finely chopped red bell pepper

2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

dash ground red pepper

1 cup chopped, toasted pecans

Method:

Beat cream cheese and cheese in small bowl with mixer until well blended. Add all remaining ingredients except nuts; mix well. Refrigerate several hours.

Shape into ball (I laid down plastic wrap in a round ball to help form the ball shape without getting myself too sticky);

Roll in nuts (I opened up the plastic wrap and dropped the ball in the nuts then pulled off the plastic wrap to lift it up and move it around in the ball to cover it with nuts.

(I then re-wrapped it in cling wrap until I was ready to serve it). Serve with Ritz or any other crackers.

***Note: In my cheese ball, I did a half and half mix of cheddar and Red Leicester cheese which was very good. You could experiment with different cheeses and other ingredients that you like in your cheese ball as well.