Holiday Tree-Shaped Cheese Ball

Name: Holiday Tree-Shaped Cheese Ball
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 4 h
Total time: 4 h 20 min
Yield: 7 cups
Ingredients: 3 (8 ounce) packages 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 1/4 cup cilantro; 1/4 cup pine nuts or 1/4 cup sliced almonds; 2 tablespoons chopped red bell peppers; 1 piece lemon peel, if desired; assorted cracker, if desired

Submitted by josamky1063

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

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Ready In:: 4hrs 20mins
Ingredients:: 11
Yields:: 7 cups

ingredients

3 (8 ounce) packages 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 1/4 cup cilantro
¹⁄₄ cup pine nuts or 1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 tablespoons chopped red bell peppers
1 piece lemon peel, if desired
assorted cracker, if desired

directions

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.