Chocolate Chip Cheeseball

by Mel on December 29, 2010 · 49 comments

Heaven on a plate.

My tummy’s delight.

Best stuff I’ve eaten all decade.

That pretty much sums up this chocolate chip cheeseball.

The idea of a sweet, desserty cheeseball has been on my mind lately and after perusing the internet and basically finding one main recipe out there for a chocolate chip cheeseball, I came up with my own version, since, sorry, even though it is dessert, I couldn’t stomach the thought of adding an entire stick of butter to the mix, also.

The end result is such a creamy, decadent, and utterly refreshing concoction that I am already scheduling in the ways I can make this at least daily for the next year.

For more appetizer ideas, go here. Happy New Year!

One Year Ago: The Best Cheeseball
Two Years Ago: Slow Cooker Italian Beef

Chocolate Chip Cheeseball
Printable Version with Picture
Printable Version

*Makes one large cheeseball

INGREDIENTS:
12 ounces cream cheese, light or regular, softened to room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup crushed chocolate cookies, like chocolate teddy grahams or oreos, for rolling

Graham crackers, pretzels, apples (or whatever you like!) for dipping

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, mix the cream cheese, vanilla, powdered sugar and brown sugar until well mixed. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours to give the mixture time to firm up a little bit.

Place the crushed cookies on a dinner plate or shallow pie plate. Using lightly greased hands, mold the cream cheese mixture into a ball. Even after chilling it will be slightly soft so don’t worry if this part gets a little messy. Drop the ball into the crushed cookies and roll around and/or scoop up the crushed cookies and lightly press them into the cheeseball.

Place the cheeseball on a serving platter and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve with graham crackers, pretzels, apples, chocolate cookies or whatever your little heart desires!

Recipe Source: from My Kitchen Cafe

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{ 47 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Lauren at KeepItSweet December 29, 2010 at 6:56 am

what a great easy and fun dessert (or appetizer:-))!

2 Jennifer H. December 29, 2010 at 7:55 am

The whole stick of butter is exactly why I haven’t made this yet – kept seeing the recipe, but just couldn’t do it! So glad you tinkered with it and came up with this version!! Can’t wait to try it!

3 briarrose December 29, 2010 at 8:26 am

I have never seen a sweet cheese ball…what a fun idea for an appetizer.

4 queenann December 29, 2010 at 8:34 am

Yes, yes. But isn’t this more sugar rush?

What’s for dinner!?

5 Kayla December 29, 2010 at 8:51 am

One of my all time favorite recipes. LOVE it with pretzels!

6 Angie Walker December 29, 2010 at 8:55 am

This is the perfect New Years Eve snack. I know what I’m taking to the party….thanks for sharing.

7 Jamie Cooks It Up! December 29, 2010 at 9:04 am

Isn’t that a good idea! Happy New Year, Melanie. Have loved drooling over all of your wonderful posts this month. Have a good one!

8 Kim in MD December 29, 2010 at 9:11 am

Oh my…this looks amazing! Another “why didn’t I think of that?” moment! :-)

9 Benton December 29, 2010 at 9:39 am

Yum!! I Will be makimg this for new years eve.
P.S. My sister made your orange rolls, monkey bread style, for Christmas brunch, um, om my goodness!! Those things disappeared in no time! so so good!

10 Brittany C. December 29, 2010 at 9:41 am

oops, was signed in as my husband, he probably wouldn’t appreciate sounding like a girl ;)

11 Hilary December 29, 2010 at 10:23 am

We love the choc chip cheese ball! I like to roll ours in finely ground pecans instead of cookies. Might have to make this for New Year’s Eve!

12 Aly December 29, 2010 at 10:36 am

Oo! I can’t wait to try this. That’s really creative!

13 SnoWhite @ Finding Joy in My Kitchen December 29, 2010 at 10:57 am

That’s my kind of cheeseball!

14 HollyL December 29, 2010 at 11:00 am

Oh..MY!! This looks unbelievably good!! : )

15 Peggy December 29, 2010 at 11:23 am

Genius idea! Can’t wait to try this out for our New Year’s party!

16 Kristen December 29, 2010 at 11:51 am

Now I know what I’m taking to the New Years Eve party we’re going to! I’m already bringing a spinach and artichoke dip but wanted to come up with an extra thing and this is just perfect.

17 nicole December 29, 2010 at 12:08 pm

i have never even heard of something like this. how fun. I will have to give it a try. thanks

18 Abby December 29, 2010 at 1:20 pm

I LOVE this cheeseball!! It is so wonderful that just eating it with graham crackers is good for me!

19 Christine December 29, 2010 at 2:00 pm

yum! Sounds perfect! I know what I’m bringing to our new years eve party!

20 Mel December 29, 2010 at 3:02 pm

Brittany – I’ll definitely have to try those orange rolls monkey bread style…what a great idea!

21 Lisa @ Dishes of Mrs. Fish December 29, 2010 at 5:25 pm

A dip like this is always served at work parties, and I’ve never got the recipe! Thanks! :)

22 Debi(Table Talk) December 29, 2010 at 6:36 pm

We are hosting a New Year’s Eve party for our daughters and their friends this year and looking for fun appetizer ideas. Looks like I found a dish I know they will love!

23 megan @ whatmegansmaking December 29, 2010 at 9:01 pm

I just made one of these tonight! Well, the other version you mentioned – with the full stick of butter ;) Delicious! I made it to take to work, but if I was going to eat more of it, I’d make your version to keep it a little healthier.

24 corrie December 30, 2010 at 12:00 am

yum! we don’t really have cheeseballs here in australia but this would be great conversation starter – great for kids parties too! yum!

corrie:)

25 Heather of Kitchen Concoctions December 30, 2010 at 12:16 am

This sounds fabulous!

P.S.
Love your new header!

26 Veronica December 30, 2010 at 12:35 am

This is crazy! I just saved a recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough dip, and now I’ve got a recipe for a cheeseball. I wonder what other creative things can be made with this idea? You go girl, this sounds so good.

27 foodies at home December 30, 2010 at 1:12 am

Wowzer! I am speechless! Seriously…I might have to swing by! LOL Brilliant idea!

28 Aubri @ Tried and Tried Again December 30, 2010 at 12:29 pm

I had a chocolate chip cheeseball on my list of things to make for New Years Eve…but I too was worried about that stick of butter! I think I’ll try yours instead…sounds fab. Thanks for being so awesome Mel! Happy New Year!

29 Jill December 30, 2010 at 1:32 pm

My mom just brought a cheeseball similar to this to our Christmas Eve gathering. It is so good!! A woman at her office had given them out as Christmas gifts and she served it with graham crackers. I didn’t have any in the house when my mom brought it over for me to try, so I used pretzels and it was soooo good. The combination of the sweet and salty was perfect! The recipe that we tried also had chopped up nuts in it–pecans, maybe? Not sure exactly but it was delish!

30 Anne December 30, 2010 at 10:09 pm

Wow. That’s just about all I can say. Wow. Also, I love the sweet cheeseball I got from the Sisters’ Cafe – sweetened shredded coconut, powdered sugar, cream cheese, and maraschino cherries. Add some chocolate chips and a chocolate/crushed pecan coating and it would be the best of both!

31 grace December 31, 2010 at 1:00 am

my cousin made something eerily similar to this for christmas, and i obviously chose to sit very close to it during the unwrapping of gifts. needless to say, there wasn’t much left by the end of the evening. :)

32 CaSaundra December 31, 2010 at 8:42 am

I’ve been dying to try one of those–thanks for the reminder! Happy New Year!

33 Christiana January 1, 2011 at 10:45 am

I took this to our New Years Eve party and it was a hit! Stole the show. My husband thought it tasted like the filling of a pumkin roll (his favorite dessert). I liked it best with graham crackers, but the honey wheat pretzels went the fastest. Another winner-I’m not surprised. :) Thanks for the recipe!

34 Mel January 1, 2011 at 8:44 pm

Christiana – so glad this recipe was a hit!

35 Anissa January 2, 2011 at 12:36 am

Major hit at the New Years party today. WOW. We had a HUGE spread of food and this was the one thing that only had a small bit left on the plate. So yummy. Thanks!

36 Alisa January 2, 2011 at 5:36 pm

I love that you tweaked this recipe! I cannot wait to try it soon.

37 Mel January 2, 2011 at 9:24 pm

Anissa – thrilled this worked out so well!

38 Natalie @ While I Breathe January 3, 2011 at 6:57 am

One of my friends must have been psychic because I didn’t have a chance to make this for new years eve but it showed up at the party we were at and I seriously ate half of it!!! It was delicious!!! Definitely a great little dessert

39 Angie Walker January 4, 2011 at 6:22 am

We had a family game night shortly before the New Year holiday, and I presented this cheese ball at the party. I just wanted to let you know that it was HUGE hit. Everyone loved it. This will definitely be put on my holiday recipe list permanently. Also, I rolled mine in snickerdoodle cookie crumbs. Very yummy!!

40 Mel January 4, 2011 at 8:48 pm

Angie – loved the idea of you “presenting” this because really, it deserves a presentation. Glad it was so well received! And the snickerdoodle cookie crumbs are just brilliant!

41 Norah B January 9, 2011 at 5:29 pm

That ball looks so good. I need to get back to cooking and making all your wonderful dishes.

42 Cari J January 19, 2011 at 8:00 pm

One bite and I am hooked!!! I didn’t take the time to really soften the cream cheese, I just threw it in my Kitchen Aid, so it was still fairly cold and I skipped the step of chilling it before shaping it and it worked just fine. Thanks for the recipe definitely a keeper!

43 Mel January 19, 2011 at 9:47 pm

Cari – glad you love this and am glad your variations worked out!

44 Rachel January 20, 2011 at 6:09 pm

Did I do this wrong? It just tasted like sweetened cream cheese, nothing special. I googled it and it has rave reviews everywhere…wondering if the problem is user error.

45 Mel January 21, 2011 at 2:30 pm

Rachel – I’m not sure if you did something wrong or not but I’m sorry you didn’t like it! It definitely has a strong cream cheese flavor so it may just boil down to a taste preference.

46 Lisa July 6, 2011 at 4:36 pm

Delish. Made this for a group of 12 and everyone loved it. It goes a long way. We especially enjoyed the apple/cheeseball combination.

47 Julie December 13, 2011 at 11:50 am

I have been searching for a chocolate cheese ball recipe that I lost from several years ago. I couldn’t find a recipe online without the butter until I found this one. The lost cheese ball recipe was chocolate, not with chocolate chips and I can’t remember if I melted chocolate or added cocoa powder. It was coated just before serving with the nuts. It had creme de menthe in it and the ball was served with Famous Chocolate Wafers. I am going to use your recipe as a base and try an recreate this Minty Chocolate Cheese Ball. Thanks!!

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