Pinecone Cheeseball

Hello!   Long time,  no talk.  We’ve been busy with work and stuff.  But I just hosted a woodland-themed baby shower for a friend, and I was pretty happy with this relatively easy, crowd-pleasing pinecone cheeseball.

I saw this idea all over the place when I googled woodland baby shower.  I thought about making a cheeseball from scratch, but all my favorites have non-pasteurized cheese in them.  And that’s a no-no for the pregnant ladies.  So instead I used two packages of Boursin, which to my delight is made with pasteurized cheese.  I took them out of their packages and molded them into one big egg-like shape (with a flat bottom).  And then I put plain almonds all around that, starting with the bottom of the “cone” and pressing the rounded end of each almond into the cheese at a slight angle.  I tried to alternate the position of the almonds so that each almond sort of went in between the almonds from the prior row.

Then, I decorated the plate with fresh rosemary from my herb garden that I barely ever use anymore (tears).

I recommend staring this at least an hour before your party.  That way, you’re not rushed, and you can put the cheese back in the fridge for a while to firm up again in case it softened while you were working on it.

Serve with water crackers, although our beloved Deb abhors water crackers, so feel free to use something more interesting.