Adorable ornament cheese balls make a fun holiday appetizer! They are a festive touch to serve for any holiday occasion with Christmas colors. With limited prep, you can serve these cheery cheese balls to your guests without missing a moment of the merrymaking.
Since I can remember, my family ALWAYS ate a Pesto Sun-dried Tomato Torte during the holidays. A torte usually refers to a cake that is multilayered with whipped cream, buttercream, mousse, jam, or fruit. However, this savory torte is made with a cheese base of ½ goat cheese and ½ cream cheese, pesto, diced sun-dried tomatoes, and toasted pine nuts. The beautiful layers of red sun-dried tomatoes, green basil pesto, and white cheese mixture are perfect for Christmas. This year, I decided to make this appetizer even more festive by making them ball-shaped resulting in this Ornament Pesto Sun-dried Tomato Cheese Balls.
Pesto Sun-dried Tomato Torte was something my Dad always would make, now I've taken over making them since I learned from him. It was always a hit whenever he made them. A creamy cheese layer, chewy sweet and tart sun-dried tomatoes, bright and herbaceous pesto, and toasty pine nuts. Make this recipe ahead for an easy, elegant, and fancy appetizer for your Christmas or holiday gathering. Top with the cutest Rolo candy ornament topper to really sell the "ornament" cheese ball (find the how-to at the end of this post).
Why You Need to Make these Ornament Pesto Sun-dried Tomato Cheese Balls
- Perfect make-ahead holiday appetizer
- No more boring cheese balls. These are fancy and festive!
- Flavor and texture bomb - creamy, garlicky, herbaceous, sweet-tart, and a bit nutty.
Ornament Pesto Sun-dried Tomato Cheese Balls Ingredients Photos
These cheese balls can be served with crostinis, baguette slices, crackers but my family loves eatings our with Wheat Thins.
See the full list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Ornament Pesto Sun-dried Tomato Cheese Balls Step-by-Step Process Photos
- In a bowl, mix cream cheese and goat cheese with a hand mixer until combined.
- Add cheese mixture to a piping bag (or a sandwich bag). Cut the tip-off.
- Pipe goat cheese into silicone molds. Fill to roughly ⅓ of the mold. Repeat with other cavities.
- Slightly wet fingers with water and smooth out the cheese mixture until even. (Gloves are recommended to wear).
- Add in pesto evenly into the 6 cavities and smooth out until even.
- Top with sundried tomatoes and then toasted pine nuts evenly into the 6 cavities. Press in gently.
- Fill the molds to the top with the cheese mixture. Save the remaining cheese mixture in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Slightly wet fingers with water and smooth out the cheese mixture until even. (Gloves are recommended to wear).
- Place plastic wrap on top, press slightly, and place in the freezer for 1 hour.
- Remove the plastic wrap and place a dollop of the remaining cheese mixture onto 3 of the semispheres. Smooth out evenly with an offset spatula or spoon.
- Set aside a piece of plastic wrap. Take one semisphere with the extra cream mixture and one without and put them together to form a whole sphere. Wrap immediately in plastic wrap and use your fingers to smooth out where the semisphere meet. Place in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
- About 15 minutes prior to serving, take out your beautiful ornament cheese balls, unwrap, and place them on your serving tray. Top with the Rolo candy ornament topper. Enjoy with wheat thins (my family's favorite), baguette, crostini, or your cracker of choice.
Recipe Notes
- Can be made ahead of a day or two. Keep wrapped and refrigerated until ready to serve.
- Use nut-free pesto and can be made with pine nuts for a nut-free version of these cheese balls
Looking for a holiday dessert cheese ball?
Check out my Christmas Ornament Red Velvet Cheese Balls! They are super easy treats! Fun, festive, covered in holiday sprinkles, and full of cream cheese and red velvet cake mix.
Ornament Pesto Sun-dried Tomato Cheese Balls
Equipment
- Mini Food Processor (if you are making your own pesto)
- Semisphere Silicone Molds
- Plastic Wrap
- Pastry Bag
Ingredients
Homemade Pesto
- 2 cups basil
- 1 oz grated parmesan
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 tsp minced garlic
- 2 tbsp pine nuts toasted
Ornament Pesto Sun-dried Tomato Cheese Balls
- 8 oz goat cheese room temperature
- 8 oz cream cheese room temperature
- ½ cup pesto use storebought
- ½ sun-dried tomato drained, dried on paper towl and diced into small pieces
- 2 tbsp pine nuts toasted
Instructions
Pesto (See below recipe card for process photos)
- In a small food processor, add in toasted pine nuts, grated parmesan, and minced garlic.
- Blend for 30 seconds - 1 minute until paste-like.
- Add in basil and blend.
- While blending, slowly add in olive oil until combined.
- Pour pesto into a small bowl and set aside.
Ornament Pesto Sun-Dried Tomato Cheese Balls
- In a bowl, mix cream cheese and goat cheese with a hand mixer until combined.
- Add cheese mixture to a piping bag (or a sandwich bag). Cut the tip-off.
- Pipe goat cheese into silicone molds.
- Fill to roughly ⅓ of the mold. Repeat with other cavities.
- Slightly wet fingers with water and smooth out the cheese mixture until even. (Gloves are recommended to wear).
- Add in pesto evenly into the 6 cavities and smooth out until even.
- Top with sundried tomatoes and then toasted pine nuts evenly into the 6 cavities. Press in gently.
- Fill the molds to the top with the cheese mixture. Save the remaining cheese mixture in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Slightly wet fingers with water and smooth out the cheese mixture until even. (Gloves are recommended to wear).
- Place plastic wrap on top, press slightly, and place in the freezer for 1 hour.
- Remove the plastic wrap and place a dollop of the remaining cheese mixture onto 3 of the semispheres. Smooth out evenly with an offset spatula or spoon.
- Set aside a piece of plastic wrap. Take one semisphere with the extra cream mixture and one without and put them together to form a whole sphere. Wrap immediately in plastic wrap and use your fingers to smooth out where the semisphere meet. Place in the refrigerator for at least one hour.
- About 15 minutes prior to serving, take out your beautiful ornament cheese balls, unwrap, and place them on your serving tray. Enjoy with wheat thins (my family's favorite), baguette, crostini, or your cracker of choice.
Notes
Nutrition
Pesto Ingredient Photos
Pesto Process Step-by-Step Photos
- In a small food processor, add in toasted pine nuts, grated parmesan, and minced garlic.
- Blend for 30 seconds - 1 minute until paste-like.
- Add in basil and blend.
- While blending, slowly add in olive oil until combined.
- Pour pesto into a small bowl and set aside.
Ornament Topper Material List
To really sell these Christmas Ornament Cheese Balls I created an ornament topper from Rolo candies, jump rings, ribbon, hot glue gun, hot glue sticks, and scissors. You can optionally use a lighter to fray the ends of the bow for a cleaner look.
Ornament Topper Step-by-Step Process Photos
- Cut a ribbon between around 6 inches.
- Create one loop and pinch with your thumb and index finger.
- Wrap the longer end of the ribbon around.
- Push the end into the opening you created and pull through.
- Adjust the size of your bow by tugging, pushing, and pulling!
- Until you’ve created a small bow.
- Cut ends at an angle. Optionally, you can carefully use a lighter and fray the ends for a cleaner look depending on the ribbon used.
- Carefully, hot glue a jump ring to the top of a Rolo candy
- Carefully, hot glue the bow between the jump ring and Rolo. This will hide the glue. Set aside. Repeat until you have 3 toppers in total.