Fun vibrant colors and scrumptious sweet flavors come together to form the perfect dessert cheese ball.
Hey, y'all! To celebrate my return from my hiatus (and Pride Month!), I thought I'd share something bright and colorful- and really, what is more colorful in the food world than sprinkles? Ugh- pretty much nothing!
A while back, you know before we were graced with 3 little ones (I'm a twin mom now, ya'll!), we had a few friends over for a game night. If you're a frequent visitor to the blog, you know how much we love game nights! They are a great way to let your hair down and unwind after a long work week. Of course, it wouldn't be an epic game night without a great collection of games and yummy food! Everyone sits around laughing (or falls over from drinking), munching on way too much food, and lets loose.
The morning of game night, I was struggling to figure out what to make. I knew I'd obviously make my Slammin' Queso since it's a party staple in our circle, but I wanted to make something sweet to go along with it. Then it hit me, for the first time ever I didn't invite any of my straight friends over. We were having a Gay Game Night. Obviously I had to make something rainbow themed. I played with a couple of different ideas before I settled on this glorious Animal Cracker Cheesecake Ball.
I know what you're thinking. Stop the madness. A dessert cheese ball with animal crackers mixed inside? That's utterly ridiculous. Ya'll, just trust me on this one. This is one of those ideas that is just so insane that it actually works
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This ball of deliciousness is out of control good. It is designed to feed a large crowd though- so you may want to consider halving the recipe. We had 7 people over for game night and could have easily done with a ball 1/4 this size.
Of course, you could always make the full batch and break it up into a few smaller dessert balls to keep in the freezer. If you are doing this, however, I would suggest not rolling the ball in the sprinkles until you are ready to serve it. It'll come out looking like a Jackson Pollock painting.
The cheese ball can be any color you like- if you're making it for a girl's birthday party, for instance, you may want to make it pink or purple. I ended up making mine blue.
Kitchen Essentials:
Ingredients:
16 oz cream cheese, room temperature 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 1 package Sugar Cookie Mix (abt 3 cups) 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract Food coloring 1 1/2 cups chopped animal crackers Rainbow sprinkles
Instructions:
1. Beat together the cream cheese and butter using a stand mixer.
2. Add the sugar cookie mix, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and your food coloring of choice. Beat until fully incorporated.
3. Fold in the chopped animal crackers using a rubber spatula.
4. Lay a piece of plastic wrap on a clean surface. Place the colorful mixture on top of the plastic wrap. Form the mixture into a ball. Wrap the ball in the plastic wrap. Add an extra layer of plastic wrap to help it keep it' shape. Place the ball in the freezer for 2 hours.
5. After 2 hours, remove the ball from the freezer and remove the plastic cover.
6. Fill a shallow dish with sprinkles. Roll the ball in the sprinkles covering as much of the surface as possible. Rewrap the ball in plastic wrap and place the ball in the fridge until you're ready to serve. Serve with assorted cookies or pretzels.
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