Cover Cheese Balls With Dried Cranberries And Thank Us Later

There are certain foods we all deem necessary when hosting friends and family get-togethers. Next to colorful charcuterie boards, veggie platters, and classic deviled eggs, many of us snack lovers have a soft spot for cheese balls. Who willingly turns down a few crackers smeared with a combination of luscious cream cheese and a semi-firm salty cheese like cheddar? One of the most alluring qualities of a stellar cheese ball (besides the cheese) lies in the wide range of external extras that coat these tasty snacks. Aside from herbs and spices, cheese balls are often rolled in colorful textured foods like salted nuts, dried seeds, and chopped fruit. And if you've never covered a cheese ball in dried cranberries, then you might be missing out.

Dried cranberries are the perfect ingredient to give your cheese ball a bit of extra color and flavor. Their concentrated, tart flavor profile may give you a deeper appreciation for the nuanced flavors of herbs and soft cheese. Moreover, since these dark red fruits are already dried out, you don't have to worry about excess moisture leaching out and affecting the consistency of your perfectly formed snack of choice. Before discussing ways to make a delicious cheese ball with fresh cranberries instead of dried, let's reveal why these small dried fruits are the perfect accompaniment to your next cheese ball along with the ingredients that will help bring out their sweet and tangy flavor.

When it comes to adding dried cranberries to your next flavorful appetizer, you have a lot of creative freedom with how you choose to incorporate these pieces of fruit. To keep the process simple, follow your classic cheddar cheese ball recipe, and then before forming, mix in a handful of dried cranberries. This small addition will liven up the flavor of your veritable cheese mixture and give this appetizer an added texture that pairs nicely with the crunch of slivered almonds. Alternatively, you can make your original cheese ball recipe and then before serving, roll the outside of your cheese ball in a mixture of dried cranberries, herbs, and your favorite variety of chopped nuts. Your snack crackers will be loaded with an even variety of all your favorite ingredients.

While dried cranberries are tart and flavorful, they don't have a sharp taste that works against the flavors of robust herbs, nuts, or even bacon. On the contrary, dried cranberries provide just the right amount of sweetness and a counteracting flavor to several ingredients, including ones that house a saltier essence. Feel free to add in minced chives, roasted pecans, or even chopped ham for extra flavor. To add more color, you may want to consider using pistachios and extra-dried fruit like diced apricots. Now that you know dried cranberries can be effectively added to almost any cheeseball recipe, do fresh cranberries have the same amount of versatility? 

Next to making easy cranberry sauce, you may be considering ways to incorporate fresh cranberries into your next cheesy appetizer. Since raw cranberries are close to 90% water, mixing these fruits with the right ingredients is essential to offset extra moisture. Chop cranberries extra fine and mix them with nuts and herbs to create a perfectly crunchy mixture that can be added directly into your cheese balls or used as a colorful cheese ball coating.

Additionally, raw cranberries are significantly more tart than their dried counterparts since they contain no added sugars. You may need to add a small amount of sweetener to your usual cheese ball recipe to offset raw cranberries' sour punch of flavor. Next to sweet and salty cheese balls made with cream cheese, cheddar, and salted nuts, you may want to utilize fresh cranberries to make a sweeter cheese ball dessert. While you may be reluctant to add sugar to a cheddar or blue cheese ball, adding extra sweetener to a cranberry orange snack ball or a variety that is meant to be sweet may help you find the right calling for your fresh cranberries. Yet, if you want to play it safe, try dried cranberries first and see how these bright and tart fruits can easily elevate one of your favorite snacks.