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Saturday, November 21, 2009

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Ball

Hey all! I return from Denmark later today and will be home for 2 1/2 days before heading north to Chicago to celebrate Thanksgiving. Posting should still be somewhat regular, so keep checking :)

Let me preface this by saying Ryan is perfectly capable of cooking and baking on his own. Remember his awesome scones? However, I didn't want him to have to worry about making a dessert for Community Groups while I was in Denmark. So, I went on the hunt for something easy that I could whip up ahead of time. This "dessert cheese ball" fit the bill. It literally took me 5 minutes to make and I threw it in the freezer where it sat until the following week's community group. All Ryan had to do was let it thaw for a few hours and it was good as new! He served this with pretzels and graham crackers and from what I heard, everyone loved it. I snuck a few tastes when I was putting it together and let's just say it was probably a good thing I wasn't around to help eat it....!

(picture from google images)

This picture is what I'm assuming it looked like when it was ready to be served. Here's what it looked like in its pre-frozen & ready for the freezer states:



Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Ball
recipe from Taste of Home

Ingredients:
-8 oz cream cheese, softened (I used 1/3 less fat)
-1/2 cup butter, softened
-3/4 cup powdered sugar
-2 tbsp brown sugar
-1/4 tsp vanilla
-3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
-3/4 cup finely chopped pecans (I omitted)
-Graham crackers and pretzels, to serve with

Directions:
1. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add sugars and vanilla, continue to mix until combined.
2. Stir in chocolate chips.
3. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours (I refrigerated for about 45 min and it was good to go)
4. Place cream cheese mixture on a large piece of plastic wrap. Shape into a ball. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour (after I formed it into a ball, I put the plastic-wrapped ball into a freezer bag and stuck it in the freezer)
5. Just before serving (allow to thaw at room temperature if frozen), roll cheese ball in pecans (skipped this step)
6. Serve with graham crackers & pretzels.