Party Magnet

Deep Run Roots

Cheese balls are a part of our holiday tradition; when my husband's family gathers, there are sure to be roast nuts (like the pecans that coat this, video here: https://youtu.be/Yug9ANfaUF8) and it is very likely there's a cheese ball next to it. This is a lot different than our usual recipe, including both a cheese my husband hates (goat) and one he loves (blue). How will it hold up?

I found this recipe here: https://gardenandgun.com/recipe/vivian-howards-party-magnet/

Captions

[00:04]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:07]: with Heather today we are working from
[00:10]: deep brown roots Vivian Howard's
[00:11]: cookbook and we are making party magnet
[00:16]: so probably anyway it is a cheeseball
[00:23]: so we often make a cheeseball around
[00:33]: Christmastime for New Year's they freeze
[00:36]: very well so you can make a large a
[00:38]: large batch make some small ones that's
[00:40]: what usually do I think the one we
[00:42]: usually make is a family recipe from my
[00:44]: husband's family it's very different
[00:46]: than this but it makes two large cheese
[00:49]: balls but we usually make for smaller
[00:51]: cheese balls because we can't eat the
[00:54]: whole one in one night but will will
[00:57]: have it for New Year's Eve I mentioned
[00:60]: before that we will often have sort of a
[01:02]: tray of snacks cheese and crackers and
[01:06]: cheese ball and pecans and maybe some
[01:09]: fruit and chips and dips and whatever
[01:11]: and one of the things we almost always
[01:13]: have is a cheese ball so we're going to
[01:16]: make this now and hopefully we'll have
[01:19]: it on New Year's Eve as well we'll see
[01:20]: how we like this one compared to our
[01:22]: usual recipe if you heard me complaining
[01:25]: about grading onions that other cheese
[01:29]: ball recipe is why I am usually grading
[01:32]: onions it's the only other recipe that I
[01:33]: can remember that I've ever made where I
[01:35]: had to grate onions I think it's the
[01:39]: worst thing ever anyway we don't have to
[01:41]: do that for this one so I've got all my
[01:44]: ingredients everything all of your
[01:47]: cheeses and everything have to be sort
[01:49]: of at room temperature she says to take
[01:51]: them out 30 minutes before you're ready
[01:56]: to make it I've had them out for a while
[01:58]: it's chilly
[01:60]: whatever it's fine starts with butter
[02:04]: and we're gonna put this together in the
[02:08]: mixer with a paddle attachment so we've
[02:10]: got butter
[02:11]: [Music]
[02:12]: I've got some cream cheese now her
[02:14]: measurements are in quarter cups or or
[02:17]: in cup measurements I'm mostly weighed
[02:21]: out my things so I hope that cups two
[02:27]: ounces are relatively the same and
[02:29]: actually that wasn't cream cheese that
[02:31]: was goat cheese because this is cream
[02:33]: cheese there's a little bit more cream
[02:35]: cheese in it than the goat cheese so
[02:38]: it's a fresh goat cheese and this is
[02:42]: blue cheese she says to use a good
[02:44]: quality blue cheese um I don't know how
[02:47]: good this is I think I got a Boar's Head
[02:49]: brand agonized over it at the grocery
[02:52]: store I did not go to a specialty cheese
[02:54]: shop or anything she says she likes make
[02:56]: Maytag so if he can find that fine but I
[02:59]: found what seemed like a the best blue
[03:01]: cheese I could find at my grocery store
[03:05]: these are dates this is about three
[03:09]: dates that I chopped up she says you
[03:12]: know so chop date she says not to use
[03:15]: the kind that come pre chopped with
[03:17]: sugar on them so these are just dates
[03:19]: took the pit out chopped them up as much
[03:23]: as I could and they're very sweet as is
[03:26]: so you don't really need any extra
[03:28]: sweetener you usually find those in the
[03:33]: produce section of the grocery store at
[03:36]: least in all of bursary stores that I
[03:37]: have been in if they have them that's
[03:40]: where they have them this is some
[03:42]: chopped green onion both the white and
[03:46]: the green part and you just put all of
[03:52]: this in and mix it up so the only other
[03:56]: thing we have to add in here is some
[03:58]: salt you don't need a whole lot of salt
[03:60]: because cheese is relatively salty and
[04:03]: then hot sauce I had to use quite a lot
[04:08]: of hot sauce for something so I had to
[04:10]: buy a very large bottle so I still have
[04:13]: a lot of this left so I'm going to use
[04:15]: this
[04:24]: and now we're just gonna mix this
[04:27]: together until it comes together
[04:36]: just paddle it up until it all just
[04:38]: becomes one big happy family
[04:41]: [Music]
[04:44]: I'm gonna scrape it down a little bit
[04:46]: just to make sure I get everything mixed
[04:50]: up well even though everything was
[04:56]: pretty much room temperature it still
[04:59]: you know coming together pretty well
[05:01]: it's not very well I mean it's creamy
[05:05]: but it's not super loose like I might
[05:08]: have expected given that it's you know
[05:09]: goat cheese and cream cheese and all of
[05:11]: that that you know can be pretty that's
[05:16]: tasty that can be relatively can get
[05:20]: kind of loose at room temperature one
[05:23]: more time all right so this is
[05:27]: definitely more sort of modulus and and
[05:30]: creamy and sticky and everything that
[05:33]: she says to expect so I wouldn't call
[05:35]: this done and now before you form it
[05:38]: into a ball because at this point you're
[05:40]: looking and you're wondering how you're
[05:42]: supposed to form this into a cheese ball
[05:44]: we're gonna put this in the refrigerator
[05:46]: for a little while she says 15 minutes
[05:50]: I'm gonna put it in there for at least
[05:52]: 15 minutes we'll see how long it takes
[05:55]: me to prepare the coatings usually roll
[06:02]: this in pecans chopped up pecans which
[06:06]: is you know our usual thing for her she
[06:10]: wants you to roll them in her salt and
[06:14]: butter roasted pecans which we have
[06:16]: already made and should already be
[06:17]: published on the site and I will link it
[06:18]: down below that's a super simple recipe
[06:21]: all by itself and that's good enough so
[06:28]: yeah I'm gonna scoop it sort of a little
[06:31]: bit together so that while it's still
[06:34]: scoopable so it's not going to stick to
[06:36]: the the edges so that when it when it
[06:42]: gets cold chilly ER and everything it's
[06:44]: sort of easier to handle then to make it
[06:47]: into a ball because right now you
[06:49]: you can tell you wouldn't want to be
[06:51]: trying to form that into a bowl because
[06:55]: it just won't work but that is it for
[06:60]: the cheese ball part for the mixture now
[07:04]: I'm gonna get my coatings ready so I
[07:07]: have my cooled yeah cold salt and butter
[07:12]: roasted pecans that I'm just going to
[07:16]: chop up for the outside of the cheese
[07:19]: ball so I've got these dishes I'm going
[07:32]: to make a mess you know we're going to
[07:34]: roll the cheese ball in this and then
[07:38]: some chopped parsley that's why I have
[07:42]: two dishes here no good like I said I've
[07:50]: made them before you cannot eat them so
[07:57]: I'm not gonna bother not gonna bother
[07:60]: cleaning off my board because these are
[08:02]: gonna go on directly after the nuts
[08:05]: anyway but I've got some washed rinsed
[08:07]: and dried as much as I can Italian
[08:11]: parsley so flat leaf parsley and I'm
[08:15]: just going to chop this up pretty finely
[08:21]: add number okay so I've got my Italian
[08:28]: parsley all chopped up and I'm just
[08:29]: going to put it in this bowl this is way
[08:32]: more than it calls for but I'm not
[08:33]: worried about that there we go so now
[08:41]: we're just going to wait a few more
[08:42]: minutes a little while until the cheese
[08:44]: has hardened up a little bit so that we
[08:46]: could make a nice ball and then we're
[08:48]: going to come back and roll it in these
[08:50]: things and then it'll be done so as you
[08:53]: can tell maybe I completely her out the
[08:56]: ice
[08:56]: had to roll this cheese ball so it's
[08:59]: been in the refrigerator for oh I don't
[09:03]: know hours we watched a whole Star Wars
[09:06]: movie and had dinner and a bunch of
[09:10]: other things so yeah I took it out just
[09:12]: a few minutes ago it's fine it'll be
[09:14]: fine and I'm glad that I scraped it all
[09:19]: together because it's I mean it's
[09:20]: holding together well and really all I
[09:22]: have to do is make it round and it was
[09:25]: kind of crumbling apart so and make it a
[09:28]: ball so that's what I'm gonna do now and
[09:32]: yeah I'll just play that there I've got
[09:35]: some plastic wrap laid out to roll it in
[09:41]: when I'm done I'm gonna get it all over
[09:43]: my hands but that's okay I don't mind
[09:46]: eating it off my hands later I let my
[09:51]: husband taste the mixture on the spatula
[09:56]: at when we were done last time and yeah
[09:59]: as I thought when I was making this that
[10:02]: hmm there's a large even though there's
[10:04]: a lot of blue cheese in this there's
[10:06]: also a lot of goat cheese in this which
[10:09]: is not his favorite so I'm not sure he's
[10:14]: gonna love it
[10:15]: but oh well all right so I've made it
[10:17]: sort of roughly round doesn't have to be
[10:19]: beautiful because we're gonna coat it so
[10:21]: I'm gonna kind of coat it in these
[10:24]: pecans which there aren't enough to
[10:27]: completely coat it so I'm just gonna try
[10:29]: and get some and then the rest is gonna
[10:32]: be the parsley so hers is not completely
[10:42]: coated in the picture either so that
[10:44]: makes me feel good because there's just
[10:46]: not enough for this to completely coat a
[10:49]: hole all right so there's that that's
[10:54]: good enough and now we're gonna sort of
[10:58]: get some parsley on it
[11:02]: and hopefully not all of the pecans will
[11:06]: fall off of it I've got way more parsley
[11:09]: than she said so you know that'll cover
[11:13]: up a bunch of sins all right
[11:19]: so I'm gonna call that good and I'm
[11:22]: going to wash my hands so I can wrap
[11:25]: this up we're not going to serve this
[11:26]: right now obviously obviously because
[11:29]: we're about to go to bed but I may wash
[11:33]: my hands wrap it up now let you know
[11:36]: what we're gonna do next okay so I'm
[11:40]: going to wrap this up just in the
[11:43]: plastic wrap that I had set out here and
[11:47]: you can store this in the refrigerator
[11:48]: for I don't know like a week or so if
[11:52]: you want but you can put it in there in
[11:57]: the freezer for at least a month or two
[11:59]: and it will be perfectly fine but you
[12:02]: want to bring this up to room
[12:03]: temperature or take it out at least 30
[12:05]: minutes from the refrigerator before you
[12:08]: want to serve it because you do want it
[12:09]: to get sort of spreadable right you want
[12:13]: it to be able to put your knife in and
[12:16]: spread it and not be super hard to put
[12:19]: it on crackers now she says this is a
[12:21]: place where you use a plain cracker so
[12:25]: something without lots of seeds and
[12:28]: flavors and garlic and all you just want
[12:32]: to taste the cheese balls so you'll use
[12:33]: a plain cracker will probably use Ritz
[12:37]: crackers or something like that
[12:40]: if they're if they stand up to the to
[12:44]: the cheese balls sometimes depending on
[12:46]: how cold or how tough it is they some
[12:50]: crackers will crumble so you also want a
[12:51]: cracker that's relatively sturdy for
[12:55]: that but that is it I'm gonna put this
[12:58]: in the refrigerator and we are going to
[13:01]: try it another day and I'll show you how
[13:04]: it looks and we'll let you know how we
[13:06]: take how we like it
[13:16]: and this episode of cooking the books
[13:19]: with Heather you watch me make the party
[13:22]: magnet she's fall from deep run roots
[13:24]: making our cookbook and as I said I was
[13:30]: a little concerned as to whether my
[13:31]: husband would like it but we've made it
[13:33]: twice now we've made it before New
[13:35]: Year's Eve and then we made it for New
[13:37]: Year's Eve when we took it to a friend's
[13:39]: house wasn't sure my husband was gonna
[13:42]: like it because it does have quite a bit
[13:44]: of goat cheese in it and he is really
[13:46]: not a fan of goat cheese but after the
[13:50]: first day or so the goat cheese flavor
[13:54]: for him mellowed out a lot he says three
[13:58]: days but it mellowed out a lot and was
[14:02]: really more of the bleu cheese flavor
[14:03]: took over at that point so if you don't
[14:07]: like goat cheese I could suggest using a
[14:10]: milder goat cheese and letting it mellow
[14:14]: for a little while in the refrigerator
[14:16]: or even in the freezer for a while
[14:17]: before you before you use it but
[14:21]: everybody really enjoyed it the pecans
[14:24]: that are on top are always great let it
[14:27]: do let it come up to room temperature so
[14:29]: it'll be a little bit more spreadable on
[14:31]: your crackers or whatever you eat it on
[14:35]: but yeah really great great idea for any
[14:39]: party let's see what wasn't like the if
[14:45]: you're having an Academy Awards party or
[14:48]: this a Super Bowl party and you're gonna
[14:50]: have a bunch of people around and you
[14:52]: want to have a cheese cheese ball cheese
[14:54]: spread that's a great option and it's
[14:57]: super easy as long as you have some sort
[15:02]: of mixer doesn't have to be a stand
[15:06]: mixer you could definitely use a hand
[15:09]: mixer for this so as you bring
[15:12]: everything up to room temperature mix
[15:14]: this together very easily nothing was
[15:16]: really hard to find use whatever kind of
[15:18]: bleu cheese you can find and it will be
[15:20]: delicious so thank you for watching and
[15:24]: if you enjoyed this watching me cook
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[15:38]: [Music]