A Winelover's Wanderings

Deborah of Old Shoes - New Trip picked this week's ingredient, Pumpkin. It sounds like a good choice for this fall season, with Halloween coming up and Thanksgiving being right around the corner. So, check out the blogs of all of my Slow Bites compadres - you might find some great Thansgiving recipes!

I found my recipe here. It sounded kind of unusual, so I thought I would try it.

Pumpkin Cheese Ball

From AppeizersRecipe.net

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup canned or cooked pumpkin
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, well drained
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 (2 1/2 ounce) package dried beef, finely chopped
1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
Celery leaves
Crackers and/or raw vegetables

In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, pumpkin and pineapple. Stir in Cheddar cheese, beef and onion. Shape into a ball; place on a serving platter. Score sides with a knife to resemble a pumpkin and add celery leaves for a stem.

Serve with crackers and/or vegetables.

Yields 3 cups.

The only changes I made to the recipe is using whipped cream cheese instead of regular and substituting chopped prosciutto for the chopped dried beef. The whipped cream cheese probably made it too soft to form into a ball - I will know after I let it rest in the fridge for awhile. I will post a photo a little later today.

After refrigerating the Pumpkin Cheese Ball for several hours, it did firm up, but probably not as much as one with regular cream cheese would. It was nice and spreadable, but probably not firm enough to form into an actual ball (I used a round bowl for the shape, but I probably couldn't have formed it with my hands). It was very tasty, though, and I would make it again!