Pine cone cheese ball recipe

If you need a little extra something for your holiday table, this might be just the thing! How fun is this?! A pine cone cheese ball, made of herbed cream cheese and decorated with toasted almonds. It’s so simple that your kids could help you decorate it, but so clever your guests will love it. You have to admit it’s much nicer than a cheese ball straight out of the package, which is my own tried-and-true family tradition. (Yes… we also rock the cranberry sauce with can lines.) ; )

Recipe and instructions (by Cooking.com, though no longer available on their site):

INGREDIENTS
1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup light mayonnaise
5 strips of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 Tbsp chopped green onion
1 tsp chopped dill weed
1/8 tsp pepper
1 1/4 cup whole almonds, toasted

DIRECTIONS
Combine cream cheese and mayonnaise and mix well in a food processor or blender. Stir in the cooked bacon, green onion, dill weed and pepper. Cover and chill overnight.

Shape the cheese mixture into two small pinecones on serving plate. Starting at the narrow end, place almonds into the cheese on a slight angle, forming rows. Garnish with rosemary twigs to resemble pine needles. Serve with crackers.