Cheese Ball (Alcott)

I wanted to prepare a cheese ball from the Yellow Tin Box for our Christmas party this year. There were several recipes, and this one sounded more interesting than most others.

I was tempted to substitute red for the green bell pepper since I am not a fan of green, but I resisted for the sake of authenticity on this first try. Besides, I figured it was only one little teaspoon, so the flavor couldn't be that overwhelming. I also diced all the veggies very, very, very small -- minced, really -- to avoid any chunky bites and to distribute the flavor as much as possible.

Because we weren't having a very big party, I decided to halve the recipe so we wouldn't have a lot of leftovers. It wasn't until after I had mixed everything together that I realized that I had halved the cheeses, but not the rest of the ingredients! D'oh! So what I ended up with was double flavoring and veggies in the cheese ball, but y'know what? I thought it tasted just fine, so I left it as it was, chilled it for a while, then formed the ball and rolled it in finely chopped pecans.

I prepared the mixture the morning of the party, so the flavors had several hours to marry, which made it even better. Unfortunately, in the flurry of trying to prepare everything else, I forgot to take a photo until about halfway through the party. Here's what I ended up with:

That little chunk on the lower right corner of the center plate is all that was left -- and it didn't last much longer.

Our party guests absolutely raved about the cheese ball. It was a definite favorite of the party spread. One friend immediately asked for the recipe, so I handed her the card from the box, and she took photos of the recipe with her phone. Everyone agreed that it was perfect with the double-strength ingredients, so if I make it again, I will do the same. I may even use green bell pepper again... maybe.
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Cheese Ball
by Alcott 12/24/71

2 8oz pkg cream cheese
8 oz sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp onion, chopped fine
1 tsp green pepper, chopped fine
1 tsp pimiento, chopped fine
dash salt
dash cayenne pepper
finely chopped nuts

Cream the two cheeses. Blend in the other ingredients [except nuts] and chill. Make into ball and roll in chopped nuts.
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