Clever Carrot Cheese Balls
Ingredients
- 8 ounces 1 block regular cream cheese, softened at room temp
- 8 ounces 2 cups extra sharp cheddar cheese, finely shredded & chopped
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon heaping fried finely minced onion
- 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt or more to taste
- Several sprigs of fresh parsley for stems see Notes below
Tools
- Mixing bowl
- Small rubber spatula
- Butter knife
- Plastic wrap
Instructions
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In a mixing bowl, add all ingredients except for the fresh parsley sprigs. Using a rubber spatula, combine until smooth.
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Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap and place the cheese mixture in the center. Lift one side of the wrap up to cover the cheese and shape it into one large roll. Wrap the entire roll completely and refrigerate for an hour or so to let the mixture chill and firm up.
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To roll out the individual carrots, divide the cheese roll into several sections (I ended up with 8 sections making 8 carrots – all slightly different sizes. You can do as many sections/carrots as you like, depending on how big/small you want your carrots to be).
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Using your hands, roll out each of the carrot cheese balls – making one end smaller than the other. Using a butter knife, create tiny indentations all over the surface of the carrots and gently lay them on a flat plate as you finish each one and refrigerate. Don’t worry about shaping the “carrots” perfectly – they’re charming and delicious just the way they are. Cover the plate of finished carrots with plastic wrap and refrigerate (for a few hours or up to two days) until ready to serve. See PARSLEY notes below.
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To Serve: Create a small hole in the wide end of each carrot using a toothpick or chopstick and insert stems of fresh parsley to look like fresh carrot greens. Plate with a variety of breads, crackers and/or fresh veggies, and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*CHEESE - I’m a fan of hand-shredding my own cheese whenever possible, but this time I used Sargento Off The Block Sharp Cheddar, and it worked well. Whatever you use, just make sure to chop up the shreds so they’re nice and fine so the cheddar and cream cheese blend and hold together well.
*PARLSEY – This may seem like a fussy little detail, but it works! Soak your fresh parsley sprigs in a bowl of really cold water to make sure they’re well-hydrated (and clean!) before adding them to your carrot cheese balls. The parsley will look fresher and hold up better at room temp. Make sure to blot the parsley stems dry before adding them to your carrots.
*COLOR – These Carrot Cheese Balls will, naturally, not be as orange as actual carrots. The spices do a good job of coloring up the cream cheese, but if you want a darker orange, add orange food coloring.
*SERVING: Depending on the number of people you’re serving, you can split your “bunch” of carrots up and served them for two different gatherings.
Recipe slightly adapted from Joan and Sue.