Mini Blue Cheese Balls

This recipe came from my friend Julie Robinson. She brought these cute clever mini cheese balls to a holiday party. Not only do they taste great, but each cheese ball is skewered with a pretzel stick as a built in handle.

  • 1 1⁄2 cups pecans
  • 1 package 8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
  • 3⁄4 cup blue cheese crumbles
  • 3⁄4 cup dried cranberries, finely chopped
  • Pretzel sticks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast the pecans by spreading out the nuts on a rimmed sheet pan and bake until lightly toasted and fragrant for 7-10 minutes. Allow pecans to cool and chop them finely.

In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese, blue cheese, and 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 2 hours.

Roll chilled cheese balls in chopped pecans, pressing nuts so they adhere. Keep cheese balls refrigerated until ready to serve. Just before serving, skewer each cheese ball with a pretzel stick.

Note: You can make the cheese balls ahead of time, but don't insert the pretzels until just before serving or they will become soggy.