Football Cheese Ball

Happy Super Bowl!!! Ok, I’ll be honest, I’m just here for the food and the halftime show. I like football…but I mostly like having a reason to make fun and festive food and get my friends and family together to hang out, and it’s such a good excuse!

With that being said, I feel like it’s not a party unless you have a cheeseball. So, enter the football cheeseball!! It’s easy to make and super indulgent.

Here’s the recipe! (currently, I am working on formatting a simple way to download and print recipes on my site, bear with me)

Ingredients:

16oz cream cheese, room temperature

4oz can diced green chilis; these are pickled jalapenos so if you want this to have more heat you can use fresh jalapenos

1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan

1/4 cup pecorino romano

1/4 cup freshly chopped scallions; the white and light green parts

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup freshly chopped parsley

roughly 5 oz prosciutto

For the laces:

mix together about 2 tablespoons of cream cheese with 2 tablespoons of sour cream (or creme fraiche) and put in a piping bag; you could use just one or the other but I found this mix was the best result

Directions:

Mix the cream cheese in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or a hand mixer (you can do this by hand with a spatula as well) to break it up and make it nice and creamy

Add in the green chiles, parmesan, pecorino, scallions, garlic powder, mozzarella, parsley, and salt and pepper to taste

Pour the mixture onto a piece of wax paper and use an off-set spatula to shape it into a football shape

Place in the fridge for about an hour

Meanwhile, place the slices of prosciutto onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake at about 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or so until the prosciutto is crispy (but not burnt)

Once the prosciutto has cooled, use your hands or a knife to break up into small pieces

Remove the cheese ball from the fridge and coat with the prosciutto pieces

Place in the fridge until you are ready to serve

You can add the “laces” on the top at any point after you put the prosciutto on, but I like to do it just before serving so that lines look fresh and don’t crinkle; mix together equal parts cream cheese and sour cream (or creme fraiche) and place in a piping bag, cut the tip off and pipe the laces on!