Now I know that Christmas is over. I definitely don’t still have a dead Christmas tree up in the living room still. Or wreaths strung across the house. Or thank-you cards to write. Except that those statements are pretty much all lies at this point. But we will have Christmas put away soon in well-organized plastic tubs! In all honesty, I’m pretty excited that we won’t be storing Christmas china in secondhand Avon boxes anymore. Plus, it will make them way easier to move! You know me, I’m all about the ease of doing something. I want it to be easy. This adorable porcupine cheeseball recipe is just that. It’s actually my Auntie C’s recipe but dressed up in a little more adorable woodland fashion.

I think what was most fun for me was that it wasn’t really intensive to make. I was at my parent’s ranch outside of Rosebud, Texas. Just in case you were wondering it’s an hour from Temple, two hours from Austin. The actual town of Rosebud (which they live twenty minutes out in the boonies from) is population 2100. So you have to commute to really get any groceries, etc.

Picture this: I decided I wanted to make this on Christmas eve-eve. So my  mom and I made a two hour trip to Walmart. Because I needed to get a prescription filled. Never, I repeat never go to Walmart the day before Christmas eve, even I almost lost my sanity. The descriptor ‘A Madhouse’ probably doesn’t touch the volume of people and level of crazy at the Walmart in Waco. The grocery list was already pretty long (with thirteen people present the day of Christmas) and kept getting longer. So I’ll be real honest, I didn’t even think about purchasing appendages for this porcupine cheeseball recipe! Instead mom helped me scrounge them up when we got home.

On Christmas day there were only eight dogs perusing around the house in addition to the more than a dozen people. So even though it didn’t feel chaotic to me we were absolutely full to the brim. If I can throw this together while fighting a lingering cold, being sleep deprived and the craziness of Christmas – you can do so too! This is a make ahead recipe so you don’t have to do it the day of.

Don’t be surprised to find me munching on this adorable porcupine cheese log for hours on end on Christmas eve or Thanksgiving day!

Porcupine CheeseBall Recipe

You’re going to start by dumping all of the ingredients (softened cream cheese, vegetable soup mix, garlic powder, salt and grated cheese) in a bowl.

You’ll then knead them together with your hands to mix all of them together!

Then form a ball with your cream cheese. Sculpt out your porcupine’s head from the body. Next add his (or her) appendages. I used olives for the eyes, a chopped carrot for the nose and feet and lined it’s back with pecans for quills. Bam – isn’t that the most adorable cheeseball recipe you’ve ever seen?

Then you just let it set up for about twenty-four hours and enjoy!

Plus we got to eat him with snowflake Ritz crackers which I was thrilled about to the max. Because I’m all about those holidays. He was also whimsical which just basically makes my heart happy. I can’t get over how good the pecans turned out as a quill substitute (props to mom for suggesting them)!

I will admit finding a way to store him in a fridge with limited space was challenging. It was also kind of sick the thrill everyone got out of dismembering him the day of. But nevertheless I kind of want to have a kid just to throw a woodland themed birthday party and make him again.

Is this your first year cooking Christmas dinner on your own? Don’t worry, we’ve got all the details on how to cook a holiday dinner that wows everyone (and doesn’t kill you) – here!

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

Porcupine Cheeseball Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 (8 oz) Package of Cream Cheese
• 1/2 Packet of Knorr Vegetable Soup Mix
• 1/4 teaspoon of Salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of Garlic Powder
• 1 Cup of Grated Cheese
• 1 -2 Sliced Baby Carrots
• Sliced Black Olives
• Pecans (1 – 2 Cups)

Instructions

1. Combine 8 oz package of cream cheese, half of the packet of knorr vegetable soup mix, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder and 1 cup of grated cheese mixing until cheese and knorr vegetable soup mix is well distributed.
2. Form cheese ball mix into a large ball for the body and smaller one for the porcupine’s head.
3. Slice carrot to form nose. Cut four slices from remaining baby carrot and cut two triangular divets on one side to form toes.
4. Slice one black olive in half for eyes.
5. Apply nose and black olive.
6. Place pecans on back in rows to form quills.
7. Place covered porcupine cheeseball in refrigerator for 24 hours.
8. Enjoy!