Pine Cone Cheese Ball
INGREDIENTS
1 1/4 cups whole natural almonds
1 (8-ounce) package of cream cheese
1/2 cup real mayonnaise
3 crispy cooked bacon slices, crumbled
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped green
onion
Sprigs, for garnish
NOTES
If you don’t want to use whole almonds, you can substitute sliced and adjust how you place them to get the pine cone look.
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.
Place and spread all the almonds on a cookie sheet or in a shallow pan, pushing the almonds around until they turn color, about 20 minutes.
Mix together the cream cheese and the mayonnaise. Add the bacon, salt and pepper, dill, and onion. Tightly wrap in Saran Wrap and make cone shape. Chill overnight.
On a serving platter, make 2 pine cone shapes with the cheese. Begin to press the almonds at a slight angle into the cheese, starting at the narrow end of the pine cone shape.
Do this in rows, continuing to overlap rows until all the cheese is covered. Garnish with fake sprigs, or real ones, or with rosemary.
Serve at room temperature and spread on crackers.
