Classic Cheese Ball
A cocktail party staple that grew popular during Prohibition—sharp cheddar and cream cheese rolled in chopped pecans, served with crackers for spreading.
- 16 ozcream cheese, softened
- 2 cupssharp cheddar, finely shredded
- 1 tbspWorcestershire sauce
- 1/2 tspgarlic powder
- 1/4 tspcayenne pepper
- 1 cuppecans, finely chopped
- crackers for serving
- 1Beat cream cheese until smooth
- 2Add cheddar, Worcestershire, garlic powder, and cayenne; mix well
- 3Form mixture into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap
- 4Refrigerate at least 2 hours until firm
- 5Roll in chopped pecans, pressing to adhere
- 6Serve with assorted crackers
Make up to 3 days ahead. Let sit at room temperature 15 minutes before serving. Popular at 1920s cocktail parties as a finger food.
The cheese ball is an American creation with its first printed recipe appearing in 1944 in Food of My Friends by Virginia Safford, a widely read columnist for the Minneapolis Star Journal. The dish grew out of the mid-century cocktail party culture of the 1950s and 1960s, when American hosts sought make-ahead appetizers that could be prepared in advance and served at room temperature with crackers. A fun historical footnote: the concept of a large, cheese-based centerpiece traces back to 1801, when a 1,235-pound cheese ball was presented to President Thomas Jefferson at the White House by farmer Elisha Brown, Jr. The modern party-sized version, blending sharp cheddar with cream cheese and rolling the mixture in chopped pecans, became one of the defining appetizers of American mid-century entertaining.