Turkey Cheeseball

November 21, 2014

You won't catch Nick and I chowing down on any turkey this Thanksgiving, but a turkey cheeseball? Oh, we're down with that.

Last year I spotted this adorable turkey cheeseball on my Pinterest feed and made it for our holiday get-together at Nick's parent's house. Everyone loved it - it is just so delicious.

Here's what you need!
- 16 oz. cream cheese (we used dairy-free)
- 2 tbsp. minced onion
- 1/2 tbsp. minced green bell pepper
- 8 oz. crushed pineapple, well drained
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp. onion powder
- 1 cup chopped pecans
For decoration/eating:
- Pretzels
- Crackers
- A turkey face (make it however you want!)

The original recipe for this cheeseball used candy corn, fruit roll up, Whopper candy, etc. to make their turkey face, which is ADORABLE. I love the idea of the cheeseball and decorations both being edible, however Nick and I don't have those things in our kitchen (and they're not all vegan), so we just drew a cute turkey face instead!

Here's what you do!
- Remove cream cheese from the refrigerator 30 minutes or so to allow it to soften slightly.
- In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except for the pecans and stir until well combined. (Use a mixer if you'd rather not stir by hand.)

- If your cheeseball mixture seems too soft to form, you can toss it back in the fridge while you chop your pecans.
- Chop pecans using a slap-chop, knife, etc. Transfer chopped pecans to a large bowl.
- Remove your cheeseball mixture from the refrigerator and use damp hands to form it into a ball.
- Carefully move cheeseball to the bowl of chopped pecans and rotate cheeseball until entire surface is covered.

- Transfer cheeseball to a large plate or serving dish and arrange crackers, pretzels, etc. around the back of the cheeseball to make the turkey's feathers.
- Attach your turkey neck and face to the front of the cheeseball. We used a small tab of cream cheese to attach our paper turkey face to the pretzel sticks.
- You're done! Time to gobble it up!

This is the first (and only) cheeseball recipe I've ever made, and we love it so much. I love even more that it was so easy to veganize! This is an awesome snack to have on Thanksgiving day when you're anxiously awaiting that real turkey to come out of the oven. If you end up making this for your holiday shindig, be sure to let us know!