Yields: 1 large or 2 medium cheeseballs
| Cream Cheese |
2 |
8 oz packages |
- |
| Cheddar Cheese, Sharp |
1 |
10-12 oz. bag |
shredded |
| Smoked Ham |
1 |
cup |
diced |
| Celery Salt |
1/4 |
tsp |
- |
| Green Onions |
1/2 |
bunch |
finely chopped |
| Celery |
1/2 |
cup |
finely diced |
| Walnuts |
1 |
cup |
finely chopped |
Procedures
- Put the chopped nuts in a medium to large bowl to be ready to roll the balls into.
- If you like to use disposable gloves for messy kitchen tasks, get some out.
- In another mixing bowl, use hands or spoon to combine cheddar, ham, celery salt, onions, and celery until uniform.
- Mix/knead in the cream cheese.
- Shape into one large ball or two smaller balls. If you divide it up into two smaller balls, they are just a little smaller than a softball (approx 3-4 in. diameter).
- Roll the formed ball(s) in the Chopped Nuts until thoroughly coated. If not used immediately, wrap in plastic wrap.
- Chill in refrigerator for a few hours. This is optional, but preferred.
- Serve with Town House crackers
Notes
- It keeps nicely in the fridge, but after 3-4 days, the taste starts to be less optimal.
- Town House crackers are what we like best, after trying many. The light crisp and touch of salt that they have go very well with this ball. Some Toasteds are also good too. If you end up liking another cracker better, you may want to up the salt in the ball, if that cracker is less salty than Town Houses.
- The original recipe came from a long-ago friend of my wife's family, Mrs. Denton. She also said it could be rolled in paprika instead of nuts, but we never tried that.
- Chopped pecans can also be used.
- I enjoyed adding several finely chopped stalks of cilantro once.
- If the ham you use has fat attached, best to remove it.
- If you split the ball into four smaller ones, then they will be a little smaller than baseballs.