Today is National Cheeseball Day, so I figure it's about time to share our recipe for smoked cheese balls! Cheeseballs are great... but SMOKED cheese balls are a whole other level of fantastic, after all.
My recipe is very basic, for a couple reasons:
1. I'm not a fan of chunky textures in a cheese ball, so I don't include dried fruits, meats, etc.
2. For this specific type of cheese ball... even if I did like chunky textures, I don't think the fruits, etc would work as well with the smoking. I think it would just be too much going on. Also, the "wet" texture of the cheese filling soaks up the smoke nicely!
So, it's a nice, simple, but flavourful base that works well with smoke, without competing with it.
In terms of the cheeses used, you'll want cheeses that grate well, not wet or crumbly ones. Also, I wouldn't bother using smoked cheeses, as this provides plenty of smoked flavour on its own. Personally, I like using cheeses that you don't normally see smoked - Mozzarella, Asiago, Parm, Edam, Swiss ... either alone or in combination. Cheese balls - much like Fromage Fort - are a great way to use up odds and ends of cheese in your fridge!
Please note: This recipe requires a smoker that's set up to do cold smoking. The cold smoking aspect is important, as your cheese balls will just melt if you don't have a cold smoker attachment. I suppose this could work in a traditional smoker if you leave out the final smoking, though.
As with many of my recipes, part of this one is pretty open ended: "Stuff to roll them in".
Nuts are common: Usually chopped pecans or thinly sliced almonds (as pictured). Fresh herbs are another option - one of these were rolled in fresh basil. For a nut free option, you can do crushed potato or corn chips, pretzels, or corn flakes. Sesame, sunflower, and/or pumpkin seeds! Finely chopped bacon - cooked crisp and drained well - is another great option, whether on its own, or in combination with nuts or herbs. Whatever you end up choosing to use, just be sure to have it very finely chopped.
In addition to the base toppings, you can add extra flavouring or texture if you'd like - a bit of citrus zest, some coarse ground black pepper, poppy seeds, and/or a small amount of dried pepper flakes.
Basically, just have fun with it!
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Smoked Cheese Balls
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 Small Onion chopped
- 5 Garlic cloves pressed
- 2 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 2 Bricks Cream Cheese (1/2 lb each) softened
- Splash Dry White Wine
- 1 1/2 lb Cheese of Choice grated
- Salt, Pepper, Smoked Paprika To Taste
- Stuff to roll them in*
Instructions
- Prepare your smoker for cold smoking, based on your smoker’s instructions. Get smoke going!
- Place onion and garlic into food processor, blitz until finely chopped. Add mustard, cream cheese, and white wine, blitz until very smooth. Add cheese, blitz once more until mixture reaches desired texture. Taste, season with salt, pepper, and/or smoked paprika, if desired.
- Line a small baking sheet or plate (one that will fit in your smoker!) with parchment paper, spread cheese mixture over it.
- Cold smoke cheese mixture for 10 minutes. Remove from smoker, stir, and cold smoke for another 10 minutes.
- Remove cheese mixture from smoker, taste. If you'd like more smoke flavour, stir again and cold smoke for another 10 minutes or so... but I tend to find 20 minutes of smoke to be a good amount of flavour. Your mileage may vary, depending on your smoker and personal taste preference
- Divide mixture into 4 equal portions. Roll each into a ball, chill for 30 minutes.
- Carefully press chopped topping choices into all exposed surfaces of the cheese balls. Brush away excess topping.
- Wrap cheese balls tightly in plastic, chill for 1 hour. Line plate or baking sheet with a fresh piece of parchment.
- Unwrap cheese balls, arrange on baking sheet or plate. Return to smoker for another 10-20 minutes or so.
- Remove cheese balls from smoker, wrap in fresh plastic wrap, re-molding to nicer ball shapes if necessary.
- Chill cheese balls for another 2 hours before serving,
Notes
- Nuts. Finely chopped pecans, thinly sliced almonds, etc
- Crushed corn/potato chips, or pretzels
- Crushed cornflakes or other cereal
- Sesame, sunflower, pumpkin, and/or flax seeds
- Crispy bacon, drained well and finely chopped
- Fresh herbs - we love basil with this.
- Citrus zest, coarse ground black pepper, poppy seeds, and/or dried pepper flakes as an accessory flavour in your topping
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