What is up my awesome, delightful friends? Today, we
are making a recipe that is perfect for sharing with your
family, if you're entertaining during the holidays, or if you
just wanna sit quietly by yourself and watch True Crime
and eat an entire smoked cream cheese ball, I've got you
covered.
Here is the low down on the smoked cream cheese ball. Y'all
have seen the smoked cream cheese. It's been everywhere on
social media and I just wanted to like Take it to new heights
because I think the idea of really smoky cream cheese is
delightful and delicious but why not take that smoky cream
cheese and shove it into a jalapeno, bacon, cheddar,
ranchy-style cheese ball. So, that's where we're gonna make
it. I'm really excited. Alright, I wanna keep this
pretty simple. Cheese balls are kind of like a three-step
process. We're gonna smoke the things. We're gonna mix the
things and then we gotta chill 'em before we can eat them. So,
let's get the smoker part started. On your smoker. You
wanna keep the temperature low enough that the cream cheese
doesn't completely melt but it can pick up a lot of the smoked
flavor. We also need the fat to render out of our bacon and we
wanna get a nice little toastiness on some pecans. So,
we've got two cubes of cream cheese. These are about 16
ounces each according to the package and we're just gonna
cut about a half an inch deep into a nice little cross hatch.
You know, XC diamond pattern on top of each one and then season
it all over. Score is the word I was looking for. Thank you,
Todd behind the camera. We're gonna score the cream cheese.
This is gonna allow the seasoning and the smoke to sink
a little bit deeper into the cream cheese itself.
Oh, another note, you do want your cream cheese to be cold.
So, this is just straight out of the refrigerator. The colder
it is, the more smoke it'll pick up and the less you have
to worry about it kinda melting while it's on the cooker.
I've got this on a cooling rack like a cookie cooling rack
above a cookie sheet 'cuz it kinda makes the process and the
clean up a little bit easier and when I season, I don't have
to worry about the seasoning going everywhere. This is my
fish and veggie rub. It has really nice flavor notes in it
like dill and onion and garlic and honestly, in this cheese
ball, it taste like ranch seasoning. So, if you don't
have the fish and veggie rub, you can actually pick up like a
bottle of the ranch seasoning and it'll create really more
flavor profiles in the finished product but if you do wanna
grab a bottle of fish and veggie rub or make your own, I
have the recipe on my website and the bottle is available.
Also, on my website, you just click the store button
Alright, I've got two/ 3 of cups whole pecans. I'm just
kinda gonna get those guys spread out also on the cookie
sheet or the cooling rack I mean. Um this is gonna give 'em
the opportunity to toast on all sides and we're gonna crumble
'em later. So, if they're already kinda beat up, it's
fine. It's cool. I also have eight slices of bacon. I'm
gonna bacon on a cooling rack. Really nice. The bake, the
baking sheet underneath will catch all the fat as it renders
and then we're gonna sprinkle this guy with my sweet rub
seasoning. It's a brown sugar-based seasoning. I think
it's gonna add some really nice smoky barbecue goodness to the
cheese ball at the end when we mix it all together. Uh again,
in my store, you can use your favorite barbecue sweet rub if
you have one at home or have a recipe online and you can make
it yourself. This guy is going on to our 225 degree smoker
with the baking sheet underneath. This one, we're
putting on just the cooling rack so we can get that smoke
all the way around the cream cheese but keep it all
contained. I'm gonna smoke this for about two and a/ 2 to three
hours. I really wanna get smoked smoked on here and I
really want to render all of the fat out of this bacon. You
can really use your favorite wood here but I think, you
know, we're using pecans. If you have pecan wood, I think
that would be a really great choice for this cheese ball.
Alright, our bacon, our cream cheese, and our pecans are off
of our 225 degree smoker. They were on for about two 1/ 2
hours or so. You can see the cream cheese has taken on quite
a bit of smoke and it's a little bit weepy. My smoker was
running a little bit hot but I think it held together really
well. The pecans are nice and dark. They're toasty. They're
smoky and our bacon isn't necessarily crispy but it's
really well rendered. So, we're gonna chop up the bacon. We're
gonna chop up the pecan and then I've got all of the
makings for the cheeseball and we get to smash 'em all
together.
Oh, no. Some of the bacon fell off of the cutting board and
into my mouth.
Pecans are chopped and these are going on the outside of our
smoked cream cheese ball. So, I like 'em to be pretty fine but
still have a little bit of texture. Now, speaking of,
we're gonna do outside in little bowl. So, our pecans, go
in there.
Some of our bacon, I would say, third of your bacon, put in the
outside toppings bowl, about a tablespoon of our green onions,
and we have a third of a cup total of grapefruit. And then,
I have one and1/ 4 cups of cheddar cheese. I'm gonna put
a/ 4 cup of the cheese into our outside mix. So, our pecan
bacon green onion cheese mixture. Just give that a
little bit of a toss 'cuz we're gonna need it at the very end.
But this is all the yumminess that's gonna go on the outside
of our cheese ball. I like stuff on the outside of the
cheese ball that kind of tells people what's going on on the
inside of the Cheese ball if that makes sense. It's like a
little clue like a where's Waldo? Cheese ball. Is all that
gonna stay on the outside of the cheeseball? We're gonna
roll it and press it. Okay, outside set aside. Let's work
on that inside. We're gonna start with our two bricks of
smoked cream cheese. Just look at this. It's kinda funny. I
mean, it didn't like melt all the way through but I do think
that maybe My smoker was a little bit hot. So, I don't
have to worry about it like glooping through or looking
dumb. Dumb cuz I'm making it into a dip but if you just
wanted to do the smoked cream cheese, I would probably smoke
it at like 180 175 to 185 instead of all the way at 225.
Okay but I really, really wanted soft cream cheese cuz
it's gonna whip up better. So, this works out great. Two
bricks of smoked cream cheese. It has the fish and veggie rub
seasoning already on there that like I said, it's kind of
ranchy. I've got one jalapeno that has been seeded and very
finely diced.
The remaining cup of cheddar cheese,
a half a cup of pepper jack cheese,
the rest of our green onions that are sliced
three tablespoons of sour cream, And last but not the
least, all of our yummy, smoky, sweet rubbed, candy bacon. How
big is this cheese ball gonna be? It's gonna be real big.
Real big ball. Hand or spatula? Hand. Hand. Spatula. Hand? Yes.
This is gonna get weird. Okay.
I'm feeling really good about this actually.
Get your cheese ball. Onto your plastic wrap Now, we're gonna
shape this bad boy. I might even do a second piece of
plastic wrap. This way, 'cuz it's big. We wanna make this a
ball shape or I mean, if you're celebrating You can make it
like a pumpkin shape for Halloween. You make it like a
football shape if you're tailgating. Easter egg? You
make it like an egg. It's Easter. So many options. I feel
like cheese balls are the ultimate holiday food. Now,
this guy needs to chill out a little bit. It's still kind of
warm from it's time on the smoker and all the stuff we
have going on there. So, wrap it up. Pop this in your
refrigerator. I would say refrigerate for at least two
hours but if you wanna make this before your party or your
event, you can make it the day before and really save yourself
some time. Put a piece of saran wrap on your outside wrapping.
Pop that into the fridge next to your cheese ball so your
cheese stays fresh and then, once you pull it out, it's just
roll it up and serve time. I got my assorted chips. I got my
tiny little cute cheese knife. Crackers, they're not chips.
These are crackers. I got my assorted cheese. I was just, I
was just checking to see what they were. I got my assorted
crackers. I got my tiny cute little cheese knife. Time to
roll a cheese ball, my friends. This guy has been refrigerating
for a couple of hours now. Not as soft as it was which is
exactly what we're looking for. I've got my bowl of delightful
cheese ball toppings that I've kept in the refrigerator. Just
gonna put that
gently on a platter. Spread it out. I'm not gonna lie. I kinda
wish I was the cheese ball right now cuz it gets to roll
around in that topping. Bacon, toasted smoked pecans, green
onions, cheddar cheese, Sounds like a good time. Sounds like a
great time. So you're gonna, you might have to press a
little bit, okay? To get the outs to attach. That's fine. Is
there anything more festive than a cheese ball? It just
screams like a lot of things. Event, party, family, Wow. Look
at my cheese ball. Smoked cream cheese, jalapenos, candied
bacon, cheddar cheese, pepper jack cheese, did I already say
jalapenos? Jalapenos, toasted pecans on the outside. This is
just a delight. Do you ever have times in your life where
you just pause and reflect? And feel grateful for all the
things that brought you to this moment. That's me right now
with this cheese ball. Just take a little chunk of doo
outta here. Yes. Look at it. Oh, I got some of the bacon. I
can see the jalapenos and the green onions. This is just all
of my favorite things on a cracker.
What?
Only one gloss. That's the best cheese ball I've ever had in my
life. That's a bold steam. Oh my gosh. So good. Okay, Todd,
here. Best cheese ball you've ever had in your life.
You know, you guys can't even try this until taste test Todd
gets some, right? Okay, fine. Give me the camera. So good, it
hurts a little.
Getting all the notes? Cheers.
Yup, this feels right.
Life is so good. Okay, it's like a tasty flavor bomb. Now
that I have swallowed and I can speak clearly. You get
everything but all together. So, you get a little bit of the
dill and the garlic and the onion from the fish and veggie
rub. You get the smoke from the cream cheese and the bacon and
the pecans but it's not overwhelming smoke. It's like
this delightful kiss that just makes it more interesting than
any cheese ball you've ever had. It's creamy, it's savory,
it's little bit of sweet when you get some of that candy
bacon. Everything about this is bomb. I think that this will be
served at every party I ever have now, always, forever. And
I feel like maybe if you try it, it would be the same for
you. So, I mean, pursue this recipe with caution. Unless you
always wanna be making cheese balls. This is bonkers
delicious. I hope you guys give this recipe a try. If you do
and it turns out as beautiful as this one, snap a photo, post
it online, rack up the likes because you're gonna get 'em.
Share the food with your family and friends. Make those
memories, especially ones that, you know, surround food and
surround family 'cuz that's what it's all about. We'll
catch you guys next time.