This cute pumpkin-shaped Halloween Cheese Ball is a perfect addition to any appetizer table, cheese board etc. Serve with crackers for any easy fall appetizer.

If you want another fall cheese ball recipe with a different flavor profile, try my Cranberry Cheese Ball.

I have to say right off the bat, that I'm not one of those people who love Halloween. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing all the little ones in their costumes all cute and scary. I've just never been one who loves to dress up. I couldn't tell you the last time I went to a Halloween party. It's easily been 10 years. The only thing I miss about Halloween parties, is the fun themed food. So even though I'm not heading out to any Halloween parties, I still like to get festive around the house with the kids.

I found a really cute Pumpkin Cheese Ball on The Food Network but I didn't think my family would care for the flavor of it, so I borrowed the idea of the pumpkin shape and came up with my own Halloween Cheese Ball.

You can play around a lot with the flavors of a cheese ball. Most of them will start off with a base of cream cheese.

Since my family loves the flavor of ranch, I seasoned my cream cheese with some ranch dressing mix (the dry stuff in the envelope).

As far as the actual cheese, I prefer a super sharp cheddar but I knew my family wouldn't so I bought a bag of a 4 cheddar blend (Sharp Wisconsin, Sharp Vermont, Sharp New York and Mild California).

Once the cream cheese, cheddar and seasonings are mixed together, you just pop it in the fridge for a little bit (at least an hour) before shaping.

While your cheese is hanging out in the fridge, you'll want to figure out what you're going to coat your cheese ball in. I knew that I wanted something orange-ish, after all, this is a Halloween Cheese Ball. I was originally going to use crushed Ritz crackers but apparently my kids devoured an entire family sized box in 2 days. Another option I considered were crushed Doritos, but the flavor I had on hand wasn't going to deliver an orange color. I finally decided to go ahead with Cheez-It crackers. I just popped about a cup of them in a plastic bag and crushed the heck out of them. If you have something else orange that you'd like to use go right ahead.

TIP TO ROLLING A CHEESE BALL

I'll share with you a little trick I've learned for rolling a cheese ball without making a total mess of yourself.

After you let your cheese mixture chill out in the fridge (literally) for an hour, dump the mixture onto plastic wrap. You'll want to loosely bring up the sides and roll it around in the plastic to create a round ball.

I left my crushed crackers in a large plastic bag and tossed in the cheese ball and gently moved that around to get it covered with the cracker crumbs.

Once your cheese ball is covered in crumbs, all that's left to do is give it a stem.

You can use the stem of a bell pepper or if you are lucky like me, I found a jalapeno that had a great looking stem so I snagged that and it only cost me like twenty cents or something crazy ridiculous like that.

Just lob off the stem and place it on top of your Halloween Cheese Ball, press it firmly so it will stay in place. Serve it up with whatever crackers you choose. I'm a fan of wheat thins with mine, but it's totally up to you.

Enjoy!

Cheese Ball Variations

Stir in any of the following to add a little more flavor or change it up a bit.

crumbled cooked bacon
chives or scallions
crushed nuts
sunflower seeds
salsa
jalapeno

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