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 and only 5 ingredients, you can serve these Ornament Pesto Sun-dried Tomato Cheese Balls to your guests without missing a moment of the merrymaking.
Updated November 2021 with more details and information including recipe FAQs and Expert Tips.
Look not further for the BEST festive appetizer for the holidays! These Ornament Pesto Sun-dried Tomato Cheese Balls are super easy to make and the beautiful layers of red sun-dried tomatoes, green basil pesto, and white cheese mixture are perfect for Christmas. It's shaped and decorated like an ornament ball for event more festivity.
This is my favorite Christmas appetizer and I know it will be yours too! I make this every year and it is always a hit because of the 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. Finally, top it with the cutest Rolo candy ornament topper to really sell the "ornament" cheese ball (find the how-to at the end of this post).
Looking for a dessert ornament version? Check out Christmas Ornament Red Velvet Cheese Balls! Need even more winter dessert ideas? My Hot Chocolate Milano Cookie "Tiramisu" with Bailey's Irish Cream is a delicious, winter take on the classic tiramisu. It uses Milano cookies instead of ladyfingers and hot chocolate instead of coffee. This is an easy recipe that makes a great holiday dessert!
Why You'll love this 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.
Ingredients
See the full list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Ingredient Notes:
- Cream Cheese: Creamy & tangy! Make sure it is a room temperature to easily combine with goat cheese to create our cheese base.
- Goat Cheese: sweet & earthy. Make sure it is a room temperature to easily combine with cream cheese to create our cheese base.
- Pesto: I love basil pesto! It gives a herbaceous bite but you can also use a spinach pesto for a really green pesto. I love making homemade pesto but you can also use store bought too.
- Sun-dried Tomatoes: an intense sweet-tart flavor that gives a beautiful peak of red!
- Pine Nuts: a delicious toasty and nutty crunch. Pine nuts are pretty pricy, you can also use walnuts as a substitute.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- In a non-stick skillet, toast pine nuts over medium heat. Heat, shaking the pan and stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula until nuts are fragrant and golden brown (~ 3-5 minutes). Once golden, remove immediately from heat and transfer to a plate and set aside.
- In a large bow, mix cream cheese and goat cheese with a hand mixer until well combined. Then, 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 evenly using the back of a spoon.
- Top with sun-dried 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. (Food safe 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 semi-spheres. Smooth out evenly with an offset spatula or spoon.
- Set aside a piece of plastic wrap. Take one semi-sphere 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 semi-sphere 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.
Expert Tips
- Keep it clean! Food-safe gloves are key to spreading and forming our cheeseballs! While you can definitely do this without gloves, food-safe gloves saves you time from having to continually cleaning your hands.
- Room temperature is key. Take your goat cheese and cream cheese about an hour before you start this recipe. Having your cheese room temperature will make it easier to combine together.
Recipe FAQs
Yes! These can be made ahead of a day or two. Keep wrapped and refrigerated until ready to serve.
Wheat thins are my family's favorite cracker to serve with this! But, when I was younger I loved to warm up a bread roll and then spread this in between.
Yes! How I used to make them is just in a normal cereal bowl. You'll just want to refrigerate overnight.
1. Cut a ribbon between around 6 inches.
2. Create one loop and pinch with your thumb and index finger.
3. Wrap the longer end of the ribbon around.
4. Push the end into the opening you created and pull through.
5. Adjust the size of your bow by tugging, pushing, and pulling!
6. Until you’ve created a small bow.
7. 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.
8. Carefully, hot glue a jump ring to the top of a Rolo candy
9. 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.
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PS If you try this recipe, why not leave a star rating in the recipe card right below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page? I always appreciate feedback. You can also follow me on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram.
Ornament Pesto Sun-dried Tomato Cheese Balls
Equipment
- Plastic Wrap
- Pastry Bag
- Food-safe gloves (recommended)
Ingredients
Ornament Pesto Sun-dried Tomato Cheese Balls
- 8 ounces goat cheese room temperature
- 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- ½ cup pesto, use homemade or store-bought
- ½ cup sun-dried tomato drained, dried on paper towl and diced into small pieces
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts toasted
Instructions
- In a non-stick skillet, toast pine nuts over medium heat. Heat, shaking the pan and stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula until nuts are fragrant and golden brown (~ 3-5 minutes). Once golden, remove immediately from heat and transfer to a plate and set aside.
- In a large bow, mix cream cheese and goat cheese with a hand mixer until well combined. Then, 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 evenly using the back of a spoon.
- Top with sun-dried 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 semi-spheres. Smooth out evenly with an offset spatula or spoon.
- Set aside a piece of plastic wrap. Take one semi-sphere 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 semi-sphere 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.
sandy says
messy and don't look all that great.
Pam says
I am going to make this for our community Christmas dinner.
Two Questions:
1) I can only eat cow cheese - is there any you recommend for making this recipe?
2) It makes 3 ornaments -does each ornament make 6 servings or is the 6 servings for the total of the 3 ornaments?
Thank you for a totally gorgeous recipe!!!
Linda says
What do you think the best substitute would be for goat cheese?? I just CAN'T with goat cheese, but I want to make these!
Emily Walkerwicz says
Hi Mara. I made them and they looked and tasted great. As you know they are a bit time consuming to make but your easy to follow step by step instructions were so helpful. I took pictures of them but I am not sure how to send them to you. Thank you for your terrific ideas & recipes. Happy New Year!
Emily Walkerwicz says
I am planning on making these adorable ornaments this weekend. However is it possible for you to post all of the 18 comments because I am only seeing 2 comments posted here. That will help me to see if anyone who made the recipe might have hints to assist me in avoiding any issues when I make them. Thank you so much. Happy Holidays to you.
Mara says
Hi Emily! There are 18 votes on the recipe itself but only a handful of comments! Happy holidays to you!!
Emily Walkerwicz says
Thanks Mara. Appreciate your quick response. Wish me luck. I know our group of friends will love seeing them and with the tasty ingredients they will be a holiday hit.
nancy hoekman says
Hi, I am wondering how long these can be kept frozen?
Gloria Gero says
I made these adorable little ornaments. They were delicious.
Only issue I had was confusion in the instructions. How many balls does it make? 3? I bought the silicone ball shapes, they were perfect. I used these at my Cookie Swap and they were a great hit.
Thank you
Gloria
Mara says
Hi Gloria! I am so glad you loved the cheeseballs!! This might be my favorite holiday recipe. I apologize for the confusion! Yes, this recipe does make 3 cheeseball ornaments.