Pimento
Cheese is a Southern thing. Being that
my Grandma was from Alabama – we enjoyed Pimento Cheese on many occasions. My cousin Nona picked up the tradition of
serving it when the family was together on the holidays. I haven’t had it in many years. But, this past Christmas I had a craving for
it and decided to make it. I found this
cute idea on Pinterest to make it into individual bites with a Pretzel Stick in
each. I served them at a party and
everyone loved them. I’ve since made the
recipe into one large cheese ball – and I’ve made it and just served in a dish
without rolling it in the nuts, bacon and jalapeno. Regardless of what “form” you decide to mold
your Pimento Cheese into – I think you’ll enjoy it and be thrilled you tried
it. It’s Scrumptious!
Ingredients:
For the Pimento Cheese:
8 ounces
cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup
mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Worcestershire
sauce
1/2 teaspoon
Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon
garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon
onion powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
8 ounces
extra-sharp cheddar cheese, freshly grated
1 (4-ounce)
jar diced pimentos, drained
Salt &
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the Mini Cheese Ball Bites:
18 oz bacon,
cooked until crisp and finely diced (about 1 1/2 cups diced)
1 1/2 cups
pecans, toasted and finely chopped
1 to 2
jalapeños, minced (seeds & membranes removed)
Pretzel
sticks
Directions
To make Pimento Cheese:
In a large
bowl, use an electric mixer to beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in
mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, garlic salt, onion powder, and
cayenne. Scrape bowl and mix in grated cheddar and diced pimentos until well combined.
Season with salt and/or black pepper, to taste. Refrigerate for at least 4
hours or until firm.
To make Mini Cheese Ball Bites:
In a medium
bowl, combine diced bacon, chopped pecans, and minced jalapeños. Using a spoon
or a small cookie scoop, form heaping tablespoons of pimento cheese into balls.
Roll each pimento cheese ball in the mixture of bacon, pecans, and jalapeños,
pressing coating into cheese so that it adheres.
Refrigerate
cheese balls until firm, and keep them chilled until ready to serve. Just
before serving, skewer each cheese ball with a pretzel stick.
Notes
To toast
pecans, spread out on a sheet pan and baked in a preheated 350°F oven until
lightly toasted and fragrant, 7 to 10 minutes. Allow pecans to cool before
finely chopping them.
As long as
you remove the seeds and membranes from the jalapeños and very finely dice
them, they shouldn't be too spicy. Use as much jalapeño as you wish, however,
based on your personal preference.
If you'd
like to use the Pimento Cheese recipe for purposes other than mini cheese
balls, increase the mayonnaise to 1/2 cup. The reason the amount of mayo is
slightly reduced for these cheese balls is to make sure the mixture isn't too
soft to roll into balls.
You can make
the cheese balls ahead of time, but don't insert the pretzels until just before
serving or they will become soggy.
