Cranberry Pecan Mini Goat Cheese Balls! Holiday entertaining has never been easier or more delicious! So easy to make and gorgeous too! Perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s! (Can be made in advance!)
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The holiday entertaining season is officially upon us and today I’m bringing you an appetizer recipe that everyone is going to love! Whether you decide to serve these Cranberry Pecan Mini Goat Cheese Balls for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s, they will be the star of the night!
With the holiday season comes an enormous amount of gratitude and thanks. My family is incredibly blessed and we never have to think about whether we’ll have food to eat. Not true for so many children in this country.
Each year I select one recipe to share with you as part of the Pin a Recipe, Feed a Child campaign in partnership with Challenge and UNICEF. In years past I have shared this White Chocolate Cranberry Cheesecake and these Mini Chocolate Pecan Pies. This year, it’s mini cheese balls. You’re welcome.
Giving back this season couldn’t be easier than pinning a few amazing recipes so I implore you to pin to your heart’s content and invite your friends and family to do the same. Battling hunger has never been so easy…or delicious! (You can find more about this awesome campaign at the bottom of the post.)
I’m a bit obsessed with cheese balls. Sweet, savory, I take ’em any way I can get ’em. I love mixing and matching flavors and coming up with new and exciting combinations that will please friends and family.
I’m especially pleased wth this winning combination: cream cheese, goat cheese, white cheddar cheese, dried cranberries, pecans, and chives come together for a pleasantly savory appetizer that is just as pretty as it is delicious.
To make the cheese balls uniform in size, I used a cookie scoop. Using my hands, I rolled each scoop into a ball and then coated with either chopped chives, dried cranberries, pecans, or a combination of all three. Hard to say which I like best!
Because there are so few ingredients, it’s important to use the highest quality ingredients you can find. I used Challenge cream cheese for my mini cheese balls because it is extra creamy and delicious! As a Challenge ambassador, I love sharing their amazing, high quality products with you. I’ve been using Challenge butter forEVER and their cream cheese is just as fantastic!
I served the mini cheese balls with a pretzel stick in them. Makes them so easy to pick up and it looks cute too! Make sure to serve with extra pretzels and crackers for your guests.
You’ll notice that the cheese balls are covered in a dried cranberries, chives, and pecans. I love how festive this looks! Since I had an extra couple minutes, I tied chives into bows around the pretzel sticks. Totally optional, but FUN!
Make sure to add these delicious Cranberry Pecan Mini Goat Cheese Balls to your entertaining menu this year! You’l be glad you did!
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Cranberry Pecan Mini Goat Cheese Balls
Ingredients
- 2 8 oz packages Challengecream cheese softened
- 4 oz goat cheese
- 4 oz white cheddar cheese grated (I grate the cheese on the smaller opening)
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced chives
Coating
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced chives
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
- 30 pretzel sticks
Instructions
- Combine the ingredients in a large bowl, stirring until combined.
- Use a cooke scoop to scoop out small balls.
- Roll into a ball using your hands.
- Place chives, pecans, and cranberries into separate, shallow bowls.
- Roll the cheese balls into your desired coating and spear with a pretzel stick.
- Refrigerate until ready to serve.
- If preparing more than 4 hours in advance, don't add the pretzel sticks until ready to serve.
- Serve with assorted crackers and pretzels.
Challenge Butter and UNICEF have once again joined forces to address and build awareness of the childhood hunger and malnutrition crisis – which results in the unnecessary loss of nearly three million young lives a year – through a Pinterest campaign where for every recipe pinned, Challenge will donate a meal to UNICEF to feed a child in need, here in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world.
Please join the fight and help us build awareness of this curable epidemic. Through December 31st, pin a recipe from this BOARD, and feed a child.
More recipes for the holidays:
For all appetizer recipes, go HERE.
For all dessert recipes, go HERE.
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Have a great day!
Disclaimer: As an Ambassador for Challenge, I was provided product and compensation for this post by Challenge Butter, but all opinions are, as always 100% my own. I LOVE Challenge Butter!
Ferryal Lackey says
Hi Trish, how far in advance can I make these, without the pretzel? Thank you so much.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
You could make up the mixture a couple days in advance but I wouldn’t roll them into balls until the day of or day before serving. Pretzels and the herbs/nuts/cranberries mixture definitely wait until the day of serving.
Ivory says
I will try and make THS, and bring it over to my sister-in-law house Christmas Eve. Yum. These look amazing. Happy Holiday’s
Caron says
I made these for our Housewarming/Christmas party December 2017 and they were a HUGE hit. Of all the food I made these were in the top three with party goers. I only made one batch because I had a lot of other things I was offering and that was a mistake! A double batch would have been best as they were first to run out!!! I had several requests for the recipe. The most surprising was my daughters boyfriend who went on and on about how good they were and kept telling people to be sure to try them before he ate them all! This is a guy who can be quite hesitant when it comes to trying new things so his approval meant a lot!
One partygoer who requested the recipe said she loves traditional cheese balls but feels like they get left half-eaten and don’t look very nice once ppl start digging into them. Per her moms request she is making these instead for her family Christmas get together.
These were super easy to make especially considering the lovely presentation and rave reviews!
Thank you!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thank you SO much Caron! These are one of my favorites as well and always, always ALWAYS these are the first to go. Merry Christmas!
DeLana says
How far in advance can these be made?
Wendy says
I’m was serving the same thing. Without adding the pecans or chives until the day of, I’m thinking a few days in an airtight container in fridge? Someone let us know!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I think it would be okay, my only concern would be that the cream cheese might lose some of it’s “stickiness”.
Wendy says
Trish,
Just an FYI, I rolled the balls 3 days before thanksgiving, covered and put in the fridge. Thanksgiving day I rolled them in the nuts/cranberry/chives with no issues – still ‘sticky’ enough to hold! They were a hit! These are now one of my ‘go to -make ahead’ apps!!
Thanks?
Lindsey says
My mom always makes several cheese balls and pops them in the fridge until the day she needs them. We’ve never had an issue rolling them in nuts after thawing. I’m making these tonight for Monday night, so I will probably try tossing them in the freezer….I imagine they will thaw pretty quickly.
Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious says
Look at those cute things, and that pretzel handle is genius!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Thanks so much Dorothy!
Cathy Trochelman says
You genius you! These are the perfect little bites….so pretty for the holidays!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
*blushing* Thanks Cathy!
Bharat Ratna says
They look great!
carol hawley says
Is there any other cheese I can use instead of goat cheese, not fond of it.
Donna says
Ditto, anyone have any suggestions besides G cheese?
CathyC says
Last year I made these just as the recipe called for and they were a big hit at a Christmas party. Last fall I made my long time favorite dried beef cheese ball (doesn’t call for goat cheese) and made the little balls, rolled them in chopped pecans and folks were looking for more. I think one of the things that makes them so good is that they are bite sized and as long as you have a good cheese ball recipe you can’t miss.
Sue says
I’m DYING to make these, but I was also looking for a goat cheese substitute, so I might try double cream Bulgarian feta, Queso Fresco..
Thanks so much, Trish, for this ADORABLE recipe! I know it’ll be a huge hit for the holidays!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Yay! They are so fun to make and always get such a great response from guests – enjoy!
Anna @ Crunchy Creamy Sweet says
This is my kind of holiday appetizer! So festive and delicious!
Dee says
These are so cute, and I know they would go fast in my house!
Lynda @ Toddler Baby World says
I really enjoyed reading your post. I thought your post was beautifully written. Thanks for guide!
katerina @ diethood.com says
Wow!! What a wonderful idea!! So beautiful!
Lori @ RecipeGirl says
I’m thinking “great appetizer for my holiday party!!” Yay!
Dorothy @ Crazy for Crust says
I could eat the entire batch. And they’re so beautiful!