Mini Cheese Balls
Mini Cheese Balls are studded with dried cranberries and blue cheese, rolled in toasted pecans, and skewered with pretzel sticks for a fun and easy party appetizer!
'Tis the season for holiday get-togethers, potlucks, and parties! That means that this time of year, from Thanksgiving right on through New Year's Eve, there are ample opportunities for delicious and creative appetizers. And today I'm sharing one that's not only quick and easy, but also fun and just a little bit different...Mini Cheese Balls!
What are Mini Cheese Balls?
Everyone enjoys a good cheese ball, and this recipe simply miniaturizes that concept. After all, who doesn't love cute, bite-sized party food?
Skewering your cheese ball bites with pretzels makes these little gems easy to serve and eat.
Furthermore, you can always customize the flavors to your liking.
Ingredients
- Cream cheese. At room temperature.
- Blue cheese. Crumbled.
- Sweetened dried cranberries. Finely chopped.
- Toasted pecans. Also chopped. For the coating.
- Pretzel sticks. This is the ingredient that differentiates a regular ol' cheese ball from cute little cheese ball bites! 😉
These ingredients may seem simple but they balance each other beautifully. Cream cheese neutralizes the blue cheese so that it's a bit less overpowering, the cranberries provide a nice sweet contrast, and the pecans lend some toasty crunch.
How to Make Them
These fun and impressive Mini Cheese Balls are surprisingly quick and easy to make!
- Combine cream cheese, blue cheese, and dried cranberries until smooth.
- Dampen hands to prevent sticking and roll tablespoons of the cream cheese mixture into balls. Cover and refrigerate for a couple hours until firm.
- While the mini cheese balls chill, toast the pecans until fragrant. Allow to cool and finely chop.
- Roll your chilled mini cheese ball bites in the chopped pecans, pressing into the nuts so that they adhere. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Just before serving, skewer each mini cheese ball with a pretzel stick.
Mini Cheese Ball Variations
If you're not a fan of blue cheese, feel free to swap it out for a less pungent variety of cheese, such as feta or even grated sharp white cheddar.
For that matter, you can substitute different dried fruit and nuts as well! Dried cherries with pistachios would be tasty, as would dried apricots with almonds.
Another yummy alternative would be to scatter these Mini Cheese Balls (sans pretzel sticks) over a salad. I think that doing so would elevate a simple salad to something really special for a fancy holiday meal or dinner party!
So the next time you're asked to bring a munchie to a potluck or party -- or you're hosting a soirée yourself -- do yourself (and the other party guests) a favor and make these Mini Cheese Balls!
They require just a few ingredients and minimal effort for an impressive presentation and maximum flavor.
Now tell me...what more can you ask of an appetizer than that? 🙂
More Festive Recipes for the Holidays
- Christmas Ornament Cheese Balls
- Holiday Honeycrisp Salad
- Crockpot Brown Sugar Ham
- Cranberry Pomegranate Bellinis with Lime
Mini Cheese Balls
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- ¾ cup (about 3 ounces) blue cheese crumbles
- ¾ cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
- 1 ½ cups pecan halves
- 2 dozen pretzel sticks
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese, blue cheese, and dried cranberries until smooth. Dampen hands to prevent sticking and form cream cheese mixture into approximately 24 tablespoon-sized balls. Cover and refrigerate for at least two hours or until firm.
- In the meantime, toast the pecans by spreading out on a sheet pan and baking in a preheated 350°F oven until lightly toasted and fragrant, for 7 to 10 minutes. Allow pecans to cool and finely chop them.
- Roll the chilled cheese balls in the chopped pecans, pressing in the nuts so that they adhere. Keep the cheese balls refrigerated until ready to serve. Just before serving, skewer each cheese ball with a pretzel stick.
Video
Notes
- Watch your pecans carefully, as they can go from toasted to burnt very quickly.
- You can make the cheese balls ahead of time, but don't insert the pretzels until just before serving or they will become soggy.
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from Family Fun magazine, December/January 2014.
Post originally shared on November 24, 2013, and updated on November 24, 2017, December 30, 2020, and December 15, 2022.
Lovely concept, I can see making the base, and then making a variety of cheese balls for different tastes. Really like the use of pretzel sticks.
These mini cheese balls were insanely good! This recipe will definitely not go unnoticed at any event.
Thanks so much, Julia! I love this recipe because it's tasty and impressive-looking yet easy to throw together...my favorite kind of recipe. 😉
What a fun appetizer! Loved all the flavor combinations in this, although I switched out the blue cheese for feta bc I'm not a fan. Great recipe!
I dont like Blue cheese what other soft cheese can be subsituted with the cream cheese???
Your cheese balls were so yummy and easy too.
These are even better than I could have imagined-- and I have thought about making them for the last year, since you posted them. I bought stuff to make these last year, then time got away from me, and I used the ingredients for something else. But, I made them today for a gathering, and they are such a remarkable combination of ingredients and got huge "Wows!!!!" from my foody guests. It won't be another year before I do them again, and I promise to give you full credit. Thank you Samantha!
Oh good, Carolyn...I'm so glad you finally got to try these and that they were a hit! I've been toying with the idea of another variation of this recipe, although I don't know if I could top the original. 😉 Hope you had a wonderful Christmas break and a great start to 2015...good luck getting back into the groove this week!
How brilliant! I love the balls on the pretzels! So cute and easy for a party!
love them! i add hint of cayenne pepper, black pepper and garlic salt to the cream cheese! adds a lil color and spice
Oooo, thanks so much for sharing that, Sara! Those sound like delicious additions! 🙂
These look so yummy! I pinned them and also just whipped up a batch for our NYE pre-party! I did a batch with blue cheese and a second batch with goat cheese! Pecans are in the oven now! So fun!!! Thank you for this easy, yummy recipe! I am sure everybody will love them!
I'm so happy to hear that, Toni! Your goat cheese variation sounds delicious as well. I hope these were a hit at your party last night! Happy New Year!
Made these for our holiday dinner. Everyone was SO in love with them!
These are wonderful! Just whipped up a batch for Christmas Eve and had to of course sneak a bit. I used Gorgonzola instead (was on sale!) and man are they delish! I know my family will love these, thank you!
I am very happy to hear that, Inga! Thanks so much for stopping by to let me know, and I hope you have a very merry Christmas! 🙂
I love this idea! Do you think that these would freeze well (without the pretzel stick)?
Hi Brianna! Many sources say that cream cheese can get watery if you freeze it and then thaw it. I do know someone who froze these and she said they turned out fine, but I'm pretty sure that she only froze them for a short period of time. So while I haven't tried freezing them myself, I'm cautiously optimistic that it would work. But you're right...leave out the pretzel stick until just before serving (it will get really soggy otherwise).
If you end up freezing these, I hope you'll come back and let us know how it worked out! Good luck...have a wonderful week! 🙂
These look wonderful. I just had a similar appetizer at an event and they used goat cheese for the cheese. My friend and I were trying to dissect the ingredients. I think they also used honey. I love blue cheese and will definitely try these sometime. They are so fun and easy to eat!
Thank you, Dawn! I think you could miniaturize just about any cheese ball recipe (savory or even sweet!) and turn it into these little bites. Goat cheese and honey sounds delicious! Have fun with this recipe and have a great weekend...thanks for the comment! 🙂
What a great idea! I love this!
These look fabulous. I am just wondering how far ahead they could be made-minus the pretzel stick?
Hi, Lianne! I think you could make these several days ahead of time and they'd be just fine. The pecans might not be quite as crunchy, but if that bothers you, you could always form the cheese balls ahead of time and then roll them in nuts and insert the pretzel sticks right before serving. Definitely don't insert the pretzels until you're ready to serve...they get quite soggy after sitting in the cheese ball for awhile. But otherwise, I think assembling these a good while ahead of time is totally doable! Thanks for the question...hope you enjoy!
Oh my goodness, Samantha! Can I have some of these right now? They sound so tasty, and are such a great party appetizer! I can't wait to try them, so thanks for sharing! : )
Thanks so much, Liz! The next time I make this recipe it will definitely have to be for a party, because I'm pretty sure that 90% of this batch was eaten by me! 😉
I just LOVE this idea! These were yummy and so beautiful!
Amazing and simple! Making for New Years Party! Thank u!!!
Yes, Donna! Simple is my favorite part... 😉 So glad you came across this recipe and will be able to use it for your party. Enjoy!
Anything easy and good! Afraid I will eat then before I get there. I was a little confused on the amount of blue cheese it said 3/4cup or 3 oz. Actually 3/4 cup is 6 oz. So I used 5 oz contAiner. Perfect! Thank you for shaRing!
I think it's one of those things where 8 liquid ounces = 1 cup, but when you measure out the blue cheese crumbles, it only takes about 3 ounces (by weight) to fill a 3/4 cup measuring cup. At least that's how it worked out for me! 😉 Maybe different sized blue cheese crumbles measure differently depending on how tightly they're packed? Regardless, I'm glad that a 5 ounce container worked perfectly for you! This recipe is pretty flexible in that the ingredients can be adjusted up or down according to your taste and it will still turn out great. 🙂
Thanks so much for the comments and I hope you have a wonderful New Year!
These look amazing! What a fun appetizer!!!
I can't eat blue cheese or Gorgonzola...can you substitute another cheese for the blue, maybe Feta?
Hi, Mary Ellen! Yes, I think you can substitute any cheese you like and these will still turn out great! I mentioned feta and grated cheddar as alternative options in the post, but I think the possibilities are really endless. You can even swap out different dried fruits and/or nuts if you prefer. Hope you enjoy these!
I am sorry I just saw the above post to substitute shredded chedder, thats good.
Hi Sandy! I'm glad you found the answer above before I could get back to you! I honestly think you could sub any cheese that you enjoy in this recipe. The final result is going to have a different taste and texture, but it will still be delicious! 🙂