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ThisPina Colada Cheese Ballrecipe is sure to be a favorite at your parties!Features the delicious flavors of macadamia nuts,cream cheese, pineapple,green onions, and coconut.
Most of the parties or get-togethers in our house involve some sort of cheese ball. Invite me to your party and I might just bring a cheese ball to that too. Oh, but the thing is…I’ve never made one homemade. So, yeah, if you invited me to your party pre-January 2014, I would have probably brought one that I picked up at the grocery store. But, of course, that’s sort of my motto: the food blogger who doesn’t bring her own homemade food to parties. But that’s a story for another time.
My thinking has been that cheese balls were hard to make, or most likely, not worth the effort. During Christmas, I thought I would give it a try after all these years. I saw all the best cheese balls on Pinterest and I was determined to make a perfect one. I could just imagine my kids saying “cheese balls can be made at home?”. Ah, yes…it’s true, little ones. But, as it always is during the holidays, I was running short on time and went with the old store-bought cheese ball once again.
Now that we are coming up on Super Bowl, the king of all party food days, my thoughts have turned to all the goodness that the day will be hold. And by goodness, I mean cheese, because it’s a law to have cheese on Super Bowl Sunday. With that, I decided it was officially time. It was time to conquer the CHEESE BALL!
I wanted this cheese ball to be a bit different than the usual. I decided to create a Pina Colada Cheese Ball, which is full of ingredients my family loves: pineapple, coconut, and macadamia nuts. Remember how I said I thought it was hard? Well, it’s not. Okay, yeah, there is a few steps, such as toasting coconut and macadamia nuts (which I actually toasted a bit toooo much). It’s definitely more involved than opening a cheese ball from the grocery store, but it’s not difficult.
I also said that I thought it might not be worth the effort. I was wrong again — after tasting this cheese ball, I definitely think it’s worth the effort (which really is minimal effort… this isn’t a 25-step recipe). The (somewhat) trickiest part is forming the cheese mixture into a round ball. But, it’s not too hard, and once you start coating it in nuts, it’s easier to handle and shape.
This recipe will make two cheese balls that are about 14 ounces each. Or, I guess you could make one huge cheese ball, but I think having two of them is perfect. You can put both out at your party OR tuck the 2nd one away so you can enjoy it after your guests go home. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.
Pina Colada Cheese Ball Recipe
Pina Colada Cheese Ball Recipe
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5 from 2 reviews
- Author: Brandie Valenzuela
- Yield: 2 cheese balls, approximately 14 oz each 1x
Description
ThisPina Colada Cheese Ballrecipe is sure to be a favorite at your parties!Features the delicious flavors of macadamia nuts,cream cheese, pineapple,green onions, and coconut.
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cups macadamia nuts; toasted (chopped, and divided)
- 2 – 8 ounce packages cream cheese (softened slightly)
- 20 ounce can crushed pineapple (drained well)
- 1/2 cup green onions (about 4–5 green onions, finely chopped)
- 1 cup sweetened flake coconut (toasted)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a bowl, mix together all ingredients, except 1 cup of the macadamia nuts. Mix until well blended.
- Place remaining 1 cup of macadamia nuts on a plate. Divide mixture in half and shape each half into a round ball with clean hands. If necessary, clean hands again during shaping to help ensure a smooth shape. Place one cheese ball into remaining nuts and coat with the nuts, pressing gently to ensure that they are sticking to the cheese ball. Repeat with remaining cheese ball.
- Place cheese balls on a plate and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Notes
–To toast coconut and nuts: place the coconut (or nuts) in a dry skillet and heat over low heat. Stir constantly to keep coconut (or nuts) moving. Keep toasting and stirring until toasted to your preference. Keep watch — they will begin to brown quickly. Just when they look brown enough, remove from the heat completely.
–Adapted from a recipe in “Cooking with Pheeling” cookbook
- Category: Appetizer
- Cuisine: American
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