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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- 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)
- ½ cup roughly chopped dried cranberries
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans
- ¼ cup thinly sliced chives
- ½ cup thinly sliced chives
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans
- ½ cup chopped dried cranberries
- 30 pretzel sticks
- 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!
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?
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!