Pumpkin Spice Cheddar Cheese Ball
Earthy autumn pumpkin spice dances with the smooth flavor of cheddar cheese in this fall inspired pumpkin spice cheddar cheese ball.
Pumpkin Spice Cheddar Cheese Ball Inspiration
Not too long ago, I saw someone post a pumpkin-shaped cheese ball photo on Instagram. It was so cute! I decided it would look adorable on a charcuterie board.
What I didn’t like about the recipe used for that particular cheese ball was that it embraced primarily sweet notes–it contained brown sugar, some regular sugar, and various other ingredients to make it more of a spreadable pumpkin cheesecake. Which is totally fine, but I wanted something more savory to go on our family’s charcuterie board (and of course be Trim Healthy Mama friendly).
So I decided to make my regular cheddar cheese ball.
In my searching for a yummy cheddar cheese to use for it, I came across something really unique in the cheese counter at our grocery store–a block of pumpkin spice cheddar cheese.
After inspecting this pumpkin spice cheddar cheese (I mean, combining pumpkin spice–as in like pumpkin pie spice–with cheddar cheese hadn’t really crossed my mind till I saw this) I decided to make a more unique cheddar cheese ball. After all, nutmeg goes great in my Cheesy Broccoli Soup, so why wouldn’t pumpkin pie spice work in a cheese ball?
After adding some pumpkin pie spice, a tasty, uniquely flavored pumpkin spice cheddar cheese ball recipe was born. And it was PERFECT on our mostly savory charcuterie board as well as perfect for the fall season!
Plus, making it into an adorable little pumpkin shape made it even more awesome and festive!
How to Form the Pumpkin Shape
It’s SO easy to form the pumpkin shape. After mixing together all of the ingredients, form the mixture into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Then put some slightly snug (but not TOO snug–you don’t want the indents to be overly deep) rubber bands over the wrapped ball to form pumpkiny shaped segments.
Keep in mind the overall shape does NOT have to be perfect. Real pumpkins aren’t always symmetrical, so just roll with the weird bulges and such.
Other methods for achieving the same look include tying it with string or using the back of a knife to “cut” the segment divisions.
By the way, if you’re reading all my bla bla (the “bla bla” before the recipe is necessary for search engines), please leave me a comment below letting me know you did and I will extra appreciate you!
To top it off (literally and figuratively) and give it a finished pumpkin look, pop on the top of a bell pepper.
Pumpkin Spice Cheddar Cheese Ball
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (about 2 cups) shredded cheddar cheese (any kind of cheddar–sharp, mild, white, etc.)
- 1 package (8 ounces) ⅓ fat cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon
liquid aminos, tamari, or soy sauce - 1 teaspoon smoked paprika (more or less to taste)
- ½ teaspoon
carrot powder, optional (to make an orange pumpkin oranger; alternatively, you can add a few drops orange food coloring; this is optional and solely for aesthetics) - ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ¼ cup toasted pecans, crushed
- bell pepper stem (literally just cut the stem off a bell pepper to use as the the "pumpkin" stem)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix together all of the ingredients except the pecans.
- Form into one or two cheese balls.
- Roll the cheese ball(s) in the toasted pecans until mostly but not totally covered in the nuts.
- Wrap with plastic wrap. Tie rubber bands or string around the plastic wrap to create segments.
- Refrigerate for about 15 minutes or until somewhat firm. Remove or cut the rubber bands or strings and remove the plastic wrap.
- Place a bell pepper stem atop the cheese ball(s) and serve!
Such a great idea!!. Looks adorable. I’m going to bookmark this and get the ingredients to make.
Much deliciousness!