Port Wine Cheese Ball
"I love this from the store, but too expensive. I found 1 recipe for this, and it didn't work. I messed around with it until it was what I wanted. The way my staff at work were acting, they think this is the best. I do too, and hope the people at recipezaar enjoy it as well."
photo by alenafoodphoto
- Ready In:
- 20mins
- Ingredients:
- 5
- Yields:
-
3 cups
ingredients
- 1⁄4 - 1⁄2 cup port wine
- 1⁄4 cup butter, at room temperature
- 16 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1 cup pecans, chopped
directions
- In a food processor, combine cheddar cheese and cream cheese. Pulse the food processor on and off until the two are just mixed. Put this cheese mixture into a bowl.
- In the food processor, process butter until smooth. While the machine is running, pour in small amounts of Port Wine, processing steadily until well mixed.
- Add the port wine/butter mixture to the cheese mixture. Mix together with a spoon.
- Form cheese into a ball, roll in chopped pecans, or use walnuts if you'd rather.
- Serve with crackers.
- Enjoy!
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Reviews
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Added 1T to cheese and butter mix before blending all together. Reduced the port from 1 bottle to just under a cup, a delicious syrupy scant cup and and 1/2 of the port reduction in 1/2 the cheese mixture. Roughly mixed the 2 cheeses and chilled before rolling in toasted crushed pecans and then chilled firm. Deep scary looking purply cheese - not the prettiest but OMG delicious. Perfect for Halloween pumpkin carving party next to the braised partially peeled sliced tongue! Thanks for the great base recipe. Total keeper! -
My attempt did not look like this! Are there different types of port wine (dry or sweet)?
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So very good. Was a hit at the annual Glogg Christmas party. One person wrote they reduced the port wine from a bottle to just under a cup! Where does the recipe say a bottle? Unless you drink everything while making it instead of a cup.
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My husband loved this recipe. I only used 1/4 cup of port and it made one cheese ball and two cheese logs. It has a nice subtle port flavor. I also made it two days ahead of time so the flavors could mingle while it refrigerated. I might try more port next time as it mellows out in the fridge with time. -
This is very good. It does taste like the port wine cheese balls I used to buy at the store. I found that 1/4 cup port wine worked for me. I guess my food processor is too large to adequately mix such a small amount of butter with the port wine. It sort of slung it all around, but didn't combine it well, so I ended up just adding the cream cheese and cheddar mixture back in with the butter and wine and mixing it all together in the food processor. That worked out great. I should mention that this recipe makes a ridiculously HUGE cheese ball. I formed it into a log shape instead of a ball, because I wanted to be able to cut slices of it, and I thought the nuts would cover more of the cheese that way, too. (I used toasted walnuts.) This really should be made a day in advance, I think. I thought it was pretty salty right after I made it, but after it sat in the fridge for a while, the flavors seemed to meld together and the saltiness seemed to mellow out a bit. Very good stuff, but next time I'll half the recipe!
Tweaks
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This is very good. It does taste like the port wine cheese balls I used to buy at the store. I found that 1/4 cup port wine worked for me. I guess my food processor is too large to adequately mix such a small amount of butter with the port wine. It sort of slung it all around, but didn't combine it well, so I ended up just adding the cream cheese and cheddar mixture back in with the butter and wine and mixing it all together in the food processor. That worked out great. I should mention that this recipe makes a ridiculously HUGE cheese ball. I formed it into a log shape instead of a ball, because I wanted to be able to cut slices of it, and I thought the nuts would cover more of the cheese that way, too. (I used toasted walnuts.) This really should be made a day in advance, I think. I thought it was pretty salty right after I made it, but after it sat in the fridge for a while, the flavors seemed to meld together and the saltiness seemed to mellow out a bit. Very good stuff, but next time I'll half the recipe!
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I'm an Assistant Manager at a bank here in Connecticut. Previously, I was an Animal Control Officer, and owned my own pet shop for many years. I have two absolutely wonderful kids that are out on their own now. In my spare time I love to cook, I have so many recipes yet to try!! I also love to garden, in particular, turning any spare lawn into yet another perennial garden - even though my husband told me to knock it off! I was diagnosed with stage 4 Ovarian Cancer late in 2006, and after a year of hiding from the world, I went back to work, and the cancer returned. I am now cancer free, and decided that if this is my time to live, I want to be cooking and gardening, and loving my supportive family for as long as I can!!!! I have loved this site for a long time, it will always be my 'go to' place when I need a certain recipe, or have a question. <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/IWasAdoptedfall08.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket">
