The Cheese Blog
Pumpkin Cheesecake Cheeseball: Your Easiest Thanksgiving Dessert Ever
Cheeseball recipe (1 of 1)
Pumpkin Cheesecake… Cheseball. Your simplest Holiday Dessert Recipe, Ever.
Some find cheeseballs too kitsch, like beehive hairdos or cone shaped bras. Others, picturing the tinted bright orange and preservative-packed cheeseball their aunt served during the holidays, think of a cheeseball as a unsavory concoction best only served next to smoke-flavored salami from Cracker Barrel. I, however, think kitsch has a holy place in heaven's decor, sixties relics are pretty awesome, and cheeseballs are one of the true delights of the holidays.
So are pumpkin cheesecakes.
Introducing the pumpkin cheesecake cheeseball.
Through rigorous testing and sampling I discovered a couple of things about dessert cheeseballs, and pumpkin cheeseballs in particular. One, though unconventional, they are delicious. Two, too much pumpkin makes an unappetizing cheesecake blob, and it’s the spices that makes the ball tastes like a pumpkin cheeseball not always the pumpkin (think of a PSL). Three, ground pecans make just as much a fabulous cheeseball thickener as they do a traditional cheesecake base. Four, cheesecake balls love to be served with gingersnaps.
Serve this cheeseball for dessert, with gingersnaps or almond crisps, and a strong old fashioned in an etched high ball glass. Note * - you will need to grind pecans and chill the ball overnight. *
Cheeseball recipe ingredients
Pumpkin Cheesecake Cheeseball
makes 2 cheeseballs.
4 ounces salted cultured butter, room temperature
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cups white sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup and 2/3 cup toasted pecans (divided)
In a large mixing bowl or in a mixer with a paddle, cream the butter. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add half the cream cheese, mix until blended, and scrape down the sides of the bowl again. Then add the remaining cream cheese and sugar and blend again. Add the pumpkin and spices to the bowl, mix for five seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl, then continue mixing until smooth.
Grind one cup of pecans in a food processor until they become the consistency of polenta. If you don't have a food processor, divide the pecans into batches and finely chop. Don't use a blender or over-process them, or you'll create pecan butter.
Add the ground pecans to the pumpkin cream cheese mixture and mix with a wooden spoon. Divide into two roughly spherical shapes, wrap in parchment, and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning the balls will be firm enough so that you can shape them into spheres. Create balls, and before serving, press the outside with the remaining pecans.
Note: If you wait to roll the ball in toasted nuts, this ball also freezes well. If you leave the pumpkin out, and add a splash of run or brandy, kabam!, you've got yourself an eggnog cheeseball for December!
Happy Thanksgiving!
This was first posted in 2015 but stands as one of my favorite holiday recipes, ever.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Cheeseball Recipe: Ballin for Thanksgiving
Some find cheeseballs too kitsch, like beehive hairdos or cone shaped bras. Others, picturing the tinted bright orange and preservative-packed cheeseball their aunt served during the holidays, think of a cheeseball as a unsavory concoction best only served next to smoke-flavored salami from Cracker Barrel.
As for me, I think kitsch has a holy place in heaven's decor, sixties relics are pretty awesome, and preservatives, well... they're only there if you let them be.
Let the cheeseball in. This pumpkin cheeseball is the only dessert you'll need for Thanksgiving.
I created this cheeseball in honor of my friend Stephanie, who when I was telling her I was striving to create the perfect ball for Thanksgiving, said "pumpkin." I said "cheesecake" and the rest was history.
Introducing the pumpkin cheesecake cheeseball.
I'm not sure if you know, but one really has to test a cheeseball recipe. Tasting, tasting, mixing, tasting, adjusting the pumpkin ratio so the ball is perfectly soft yet doesn't fall apart, going back and forth from white to brown sugar to form the perfect texture, slicing off pieces of cultured butter to make sure it tastes fresh enough, and sampling the pecans after roasting. Then you have to test it again while serving and photographing.
Things I discovered during crafting this recipe is that too much pumpkin makes an unappetizing cheesecake blob, that ground pecans make a fabulous cheeseball thickener and also act as an impromptu cheesecake base, and that gingersnaps love pumpkin cheesecake balls. Note that you will need to grind pecans and chill the ball overnight.
Serve this cheeseball for dessert, with gingersnaps or almond crisps, and a strong old fashioned in an etched high ball glass.
Pumpkin Cheesecake Cheeseball
makes 2 cheeseballs.
4 ounces cultured butter, room temperature
16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cups white sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons pumpkin puree
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 2/3 cup toasted pecans
In a large mixing bowl or in a mixer with a paddle, cream the butter. Stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add half the cream cheese, mix until blended, and scrape down the sides of the bowl again. Then add the remaining cream cheese and sugar and blend again. Add the pumpkin and spices to the bowl, mix for five seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl, then continue mixing until smooth.
Grind one cup of pecans in a food processor until they become the consistency of polenta. If you don't have a food processor, divide the pecans into batches and finely chop. Don't use a blender or over-process them, or you'll create pecan butter.
Add the ground pecans to the pumpkin cream cheese mixture and mix with a wooden spoon. Divide into two roughly spherical shapes, wrap in parchment, and refrigerate overnight.
The next morning the balls will be firm enough so that you can shape them into spheres. Create balls, and before serving, press the outside with the remaining pecans.
Note: If you wait to roll the ball in toasted nuts, this ball also freezes well. If you leave the pumpkin out, and add a splash of run or brandy, kabam!, you've got yourself an eggnog cheeseball for December!
Happy Thanksgiving!
This was first posted in 2015 but stands as one of my favorite holiday recipes, ever.
Holiday Cheese Recipes: All Hail the Ball & Fondue Parties
Union Square is decked out with more white lights than a Diwali festival, drugstore chains are now displaying their trusty battery-powered dancing Frosty the Snowman, and the evites to holiday parties are eying your inbox. The winter holiday season is here. No matter whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, the opportunity to share a glass of bubbly at a party with your friends near some mistletoe, or the seasonal changing of Hershey kiss wrapper color, you're probably going to be going to or hosting a party sometime soon.
Union Square is decked out with more white lights than a Diwali festival, drugstore chains are now displaying their trusty battery-powered dancing Frosty the Snowman, and the evites to holiday parties are eying your inbox. The winter holiday season is here. No matter whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, the opportunity to share a glass of bubbly at a party with your friends near some mistletoe, or the seasonal changing of Hershey kiss wrapper color, you're probably going to be going to or hosting a party sometime soon.
It goes without saying then that you're going to need to bring something cheesy somewhere. Just in case you wanted to do something beyond bring a cheese plate, I compiled my favorite cheese recipes for you that are fit for a holiday party. Some are app style, some are for sit down meals.
These are recipes that I've used over and over again throughout the years or have recently caught my eye for my own holiday events. I hope you enjoy them!
RECIPE LOVE
Appetizers
Cheeseballs: Just in case you haven't heard me professing my love to cheeseballs yet, let me do it here. I love a good artisan cheese ball, and I created these recipes (one pictured above) for NPR's Kitchen Window series to publicly declare my adoration. The flavors in each cheeseball were inspired by the amazing work of the cheesemaker.
Mediterranean Mezes: Haloumi Squares with Tapenade
Mille-Feuille with Two Goat Cheeses
Mains & Sit-downs
Truffled “Raclette” Pizza: the Swiss Invasion
A16's Italian Meatballs With Tomato & White Wine Braise
Dessert
Shredded Wheat and Cheese Pastry in Syrup
Goat cheese truffles, Dulce de leche goat cheese cookies
Happy holidays, and I hope you have plenty of delicious leftovers! Any favorite recipes you use for the holidays that you want to share? Link in the comments.