Mini Cheese Balls (Cute, Fun, Easy!)

Mini Cheese Balls on white plate with blue cheese, cranberry, pecan, and pretzel sticks.

Mini Cheese Balls (Cute, Fun, Easy!)

Mini Cheese Balls are fun, easy, individual party appetizers studded with dried cranberries and blue cheese, rolled in toasted pecans, and skewered with pretzel sticks!

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20

Chill Time 2

Total Time 2 20

Servings mini cheese balls

Calories 103kcal

Author Samantha Skaggs

Equipment

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 them into 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 your Mini Cheese Balls ahead of time, but don't insert the pretzels until just before serving or they will become soggy.
An alternative serving option is to scatter your Mini Cheese Balls (sans pretzel sticks) over a salad.
SUBSTITUTIONS: 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. You can substitute different dried fruit and nuts as well, such as dried cherries with pistachios or dried apricots with almonds.

Nutrition