Listen, the last thing you need on Thanksgiving is MORE to eat but these individual cheese balls play double duty as both snack and place settings — and honestly they couldn’t be cuter!
We’re keeping the cheese-mixture simple. If you’re going to go through the effort of rolling teeny-tiny turkeys, then the least we can do it stick to a classic cream cheese and cheddar combo.
One feature that I love—besides the fact that it's shaped like a teeny, tiny turkey (eeks!)—is that the cheese balls are totally make ahead. You can prepare this Thanksgiving snack up to 2 days ahead; tightly wrap with plastic wrap and stick 'em in the fridge until you're ready to use. I'd let them come to room temperature for about 30 minutes before guests arrive.
As I said, my recipe is super simple but you can swap in ingredients (or add to it) to tailor it to your personal Thanksgiving style...
Other ideas…
Dress It Up: Replace the cheddar with crumbled blue cheese, add a few chopped pecans and snipped chives.
Make It Southern: Add chopped pimientos to my original recipe for a Pimiento Cheese Spread variation.
TURKEY CHEESE BALLS
SERVES: 6 to 8
1 (8-ounce) block reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1 to 2 teaspoons hot sauce
1 tablespoons finely chopped parsley, plus leaves for serving
2 cups Cheeze-Its
PANTRY STAPLE: Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1. Beat the cream cheese, cheddar, hot sauce, parsley, 1/2 teaspoon salt and freshly ground pepper to taste with a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until smooth and combined.
2. Pulse the Cheeze-Its in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment until very finely ground—almost like dust! Transfer to a shallow bowl.
3. For each turkey, roll about 1 tablespoon cheese mixture until a flat, oval-ish shape to be the turkey breast. Roll about 1/2 teaspoon each into the legs, then make two little pinches of cheese mixture for the wings. Roll each piece in the Cheeze-It dust and arrange on a small serving plate. Roll two ting balls cheese mixture and place at the ends of the legs to look like bones. Repeat with remaining cheese and Cheeze-It dust.
4. To serve, surrond each cheese ball with a few parsley leaves. Serve with miniature crackers (I used Triscuit Minis because they're the perfect size...and totally amazing). You can make these cheese balls and store in the refrigerator, wrapped tightly with plastic wrap, up to 2 days ahead of time.
Leave a comment or send me a Tweet if you try the recipe, I'm dying to know what you think! xoxo - Erin