HOLIDAY TREE-SHAPED CHEESE BALL

Holiday Tree-Shaped Cheese Ball image

An easy, eye-catching way to serve a holiday cheese ball. The best news? You can make it up to a month in advance!

Provided by Betty Crocker Kitchens

Time 4h20m

Yield 7

Number Of Ingredients 11

Ingredients

3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (16 ounces)
2 tablespoons basil pesto
1 tablespoon grated onion
1/4 teaspoon yellow mustard
Red pepper sauce
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley or cilantro
1/4 cup pine nuts or sliced almonds
2 tablespoons chopped red bell pepper
Piece of lemon peel, if desired
Assorted crackers, if desired

Steps:

Stir together cream cheese and Cheddar cheese; divide in half. Stir pesto into 1 half; stir onion, mustard and 2 or 3 drops pepper sauce into other half. Cover each half; refrigerate about 4 hours or until firm enough to shape.
Place cheese mixtures on cookie sheet. Shape each half into cone shape to look like a pine tree.
If desired, wrap each tree, label and freeze up to 1 month. Twelve hours before serving, remove trees from freezer. Thaw in wrapper in refrigerator.
Just before serving, roll trees in parsley, pressing it evenly onto trees. Press pine nuts onto trees in string form for garland. Press bell pepper pieces onto trees for ornaments. Top each tree with star shape cut from lemon peel. Serve with crackers.

Nutrition Facts : Calories 165, Carbohydrate 1 g, Cholesterol 45 mg, Fat 1 1/2, Fiber 0 g, Protein 6 g, SaturatedFat 9 g, ServingSize 1/4 Cup, Sodium 180 mg