Cranberry Orange Cheese Ball with Pistachios
This Cranberry Orange Cheese Ball with Pistachios is the ultimate sweet & savory holiday appetizer paired with crackers.
Ingredients
- 2 blocks of 8oz cream cheese room temperature
- 8 ounces mascarpone cheese chilled
- 1 Tablespoon fresh orange zest
- ¼ cup freshly-squeezed orange juice
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup dried cranberries coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon picked fresh thyme
- 1 cup pistachios unroasted yields a bright green color
- Crackers, fresh cranberries and fresh thyme bundle, for garnishing.
Instructions
- Begin by adding your pistachios to a food processor. Pulse a few times until a coarse meal appears- make sure it's not too fine, but processed enough to roll a cheese ball in.
- In a large bowl, add your softened room temperature cream cheese, cold mascarpone, orange juice and zest, honey, salt and picked thyme.
- With a hand mixer, or in a stand mixer, whip the mixture until fluffy and all ingredients are incorporated, 3-4 minutes. Fold in your dried cranberries.
- With a spatula, push the mixture toward the center of the bowl to begin creating a ball shape. Freeze the bowl for 10-15 minutes.
- On a plate or shallow bowl with a lip, add the processed pistachios. Pull the cheese ball out of the freezer, and with clean hands, form into a ball shape. Add the ball to the pistachios and rotate it all around, making sure all sides are covered in pistachios, while continuing to form a ball shape. Your hands will get really messy- its ok if it's not perfect. You can form more later after it chills further.
- Chill your cheese ball at least 1 hour until firm.
- Serve on a platter with fresh cranberries, fresh thyme and crackers with a cheese knife. I like to use a spoon to pop out a first bite as many guests may be wary to dive in first. Serve spread atop crackers.