If You’ve Got a Tongue, You’re Gonna Love These Cheese Balls

Pete Schweddy (Alec Baldwin) might have done more than anyone in history to put “holiday balls” on the map when he shared his family’s recipe with the ladies of public radio on Saturday Night Live. Well, more than almost anyone…

Like breaking open the safe protecting the Coca-cola recipe, today we share with you a recipe whose ingredients have long been rumored, but never confirmed…  It does everything a great recipe should- it’s low cost, fast and delicious and it will make you look like a hero wherever you take them.

Ms. Hatridge’s Famous Cheese Balls

Ingredients

• 2 x 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
• 1 container of Armour dried beef (usually in canned meat aisle of the grocery store)
• 3 green onions (use everything including the green stalk)
• 1 bag pecans (chopped)

Procedure

1. Finely chop the sliced dried beef
2. Combine all ingredients and blend with a mixer
3. Toast pecans (optional- see below)
4. Divide into three balls and roll in chopped pecans until covered
5. Serve with crackers of your choice
6. Done.
7. Seriously. That’s it.

For “advanced” chefs (highly recommended)

To really knock their socks off, lightly toast the pecans.  If you bought the pecans whole, chop them before toasting.  Coat a small non-stick frying pan with butter (can do it dry as well).  Heat pan to medium heat and add nuts.  Continually move pan to mix nuts and brown evenly.  As they brown, the pecans will start to smell wonderfully toasty (aka, not burned)- remove from heat and place nuts on a plate to cool.

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Since the ingredients are fairly robust, this dish could be prepared a few days in advance (on the off chance we actually planned ahead…) and kept in the refrigerator until serving.

So go ahead and set up that one last reaction before you head home- you certainly don’t have much cooking to do…

Take that Pete Schweddy.