Beating you with beaters.

Originally uploaded by Bake & Destroy!

I was unable to get a proper picture of Amy Sedaris’ recipe in action because it was so delicious my family ate one whole cheese ball in about 10 minutes. I made two cheese balls from this recipe, if you made one it would be HUGE. You could even do four small ones. Why? I have no idea. Just because you could.
So, instead here is a picture of me just being a cheese ball. Same thing, less fattening.
I’ve been promising my husband a home made cheese ball for ages and ages. As legend has it, his aunt makes a killer cheese ball, so delicious, in fact, that she always made an extra one so Tony could have one all to himself. Not to be outdone, I turned to my fellow baking and cooking weirdo, Amy Sedaris and her Lil Smoky Cheese Ball recipe from I Like You. I’ve posted some after thoughts following the recipe.

You will need:

• 2 cups shredded smoked Gouda cheese, room temperature*
• 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 teaspoons steak sauce
• 1 cup toasted chopped walnuts or pecans
• Crackers, for serving

*To shred a soft cheese like this, cut the block into pieces that fill fit through the tube thingie on your food processor. Stick the chunks in the freezer for 15 minutes, attach the shredding blade to your processor and then shred the cold, firm (but not frozen) cheese.

Then you:
Place Gouda, cream cheese, butter, milk and steak sauce in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix until well combined. Transfer mixture to refrigerator. Let chill overnight. Roll cheese mixture into a ball or several smaller balls. Place nuts in a shallow dish. Roll cheese in nuts to fully coat. Serve with crackers.

I love smoked Gouda so I was into this recipe, as fattening an disgusting as it is. Tony thinks it would be better with more steak sauce and half cheddar and half Gouda.

That being said, one of my New Years resolutions is to dabble more in low-fat baking. I made some pretty tasty low-fat cupcakes today, I’ll post the recipe this week end. I’m enlisting the help of an old friend of mine, most people know him as CM Punk, but I know him as the guy who stunk up our apartment with tuna fish soup and smelly sweatshirts. I’m Italian and I was blessed (by Satan) with the metabolism of some sort of tiny rodent, so I’m basically clueless about nutrition. What little I do know came from being vegan and from dating a professional wrestler. Luckly, I am no longer vegan (sorry vegans, I like butter) and the rassler and I are good friends nowadays. Whenever I get stumped I’ll be consulting him, here’s hoping there are no tuna cupcakes in my future. But look at it this way, what better way to get your boyfriends and kids to eat healthy than to say “This meal was endorsed by CM Punk!”
X Cupcakes mean I’m better than you. X