– The Bacon Ranch Cheese Ball –

Who loves bacon?  The question should be who doesn’t love bacon.  A friend of mine had been telling me about a kick ass tasting product from the folks at The Bacon Jams.  Well I finally had my chance to sample it at the PA Bacon Fest in Easton, on November 7, 2015.  WOW!  I spoke with the Executive Boar, Bruce, a very nice fellow.  I instantly knew I had to build a recipe around this product.  He said he would send me a sample to see what I could come up with. So in the name of full disclosure, I was given samples of The Bacon Jams, but otherwise I received no compensation for this recipe.

OK let’s talk bacon.  The Bacon Ranch Cheese Ball isn’t a super complex recipe.  It is an appetizer that is designed to be made the night before or a few hours before an event. It is creamy, sweet and smokey all at the same time.  It starts with a Ranch dressing made from scratch, next comes  the Cream Cheese, Original Flavored The Bacon Jams, and the kicker is finely shredded smokey Gouda.  Oh yeah, it gets a second helping of Original Flavored The Bacon Jams. The recipe is good anytime but it would be really good for Holiday parties, or even before Christmas Eve dinner.  I took part of the bacon ranch cheese ball to the firehouse and it was quickly scarfed down.  Enjoy it with your family and friends because I did with mine, and they all enjoyed.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise, Duke’s is preffered
  
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
  
• pinch or two of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh finely chopped dill
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives
• juice from half a lemon or two teaspoons of lemon juice
• Few dashes of Tabasco sauce

The Rest

• 2-  8 oz packages of cream cheese, room temp
• ½ cup of  Smoked Gouda shredded
• 1  – 8.5 oz jar of The Bacon Jams All Original Bacon Spread

The Method:

1. In a medium mixing bowl add the buttermilk, sour cream, Mayonnaise, garlic, salt, pepper, fresh chopped dill, fresh chopped chives, the lemon juice and Tabasco sauce.   Slowly whisk all the ingredients till fully blended.  Taste and add additional salt and pepper if necessary. *** Note –  Ranch Dressing can be made ahead of time and will last a few days if refrigerated.***
2. Add the Cream Cheese to the bowl, and mix well at a low speed with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer
3. Next add  1/2 cup of The Bacon Jams All Original Bacon Spread
4. Then add 1/2 cup of Smoked Gouda, again mix well at low speed
5. Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap and scoop the contents on to the wrap and form a nice log use a spatula and get the last morsel out.  Flip and seal the log.  Refrigerate for an hour   *** Note- In a pinch you can accelerate the process by putting the log in the freezer for 20 minutes ***
6. Remove the log from the refrigerator and slice the plastic wrap and plop the solid mass on to a serving dish.
7. Spread the remainder of The Bacon Jams on top.
8. Garnish and Serve.  The Bacon Ranch Cheese Ball goes great with crackers.  I personally think Wheat Thins compliment this recipe very well, and that’s what I served with it.

Print

The Bacon Ranch Cheese Ball

Bacon Ranch Cheese Ball is a simple cheese ball appetizer consisting of bacon jam, from scratch ranch dressing, cream cheese and a shredded Gouda cheese.

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 1 Cheese Ball

Author Ken at CookingYo.com

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• pinch or two of salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh finely chopped dill
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh chives
• juice from half a lemon or two teaspoons of lemon juice
• Few dashes of Tabasco sauce
• 2- 8 oz packages of cream cheese room temp
• ½ cup of Smoked Gouda shredded
• 1 – 8.5 oz jar of The Bacon Jams All Original Bacon Spread

Instructions

1. In a medium mixing bowl add the buttermilk, sour cream, Mayonnaise, garlic, salt, pepper, fresh chopped dill, fresh chopped chives, the lemon juice and Tabasco sauce. Slowly whisk all the ingredients till fully blended. Taste and add additional salt and pepper if necessary. *** Note – Ranch Dressing can be made ahead of time and will last a few days if refrigerated.***
2. Add the Cream Cheese to the bowl, and mix well at a low speed with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer
3. Next add 1/2 cup of The Bacon Jams All Original Bacon Spread
4. Then add 1/2 cup of Smoked Gouda, again mix well at low speed
5. Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap and scoop the contents on to the wrap and form a nice log use a spatula and get the last morsel out. Flip and seal the log. Refrigerate for an hour *** Note- In a pinch you can accelerate the process by putting the log in the freezer for 20 minutes ***
6. Remove the log from the refrigerator and slice the plastic wrap and plop the solid mass on to a serving dish.
7. Spread the remainder of The Bacon Jams on top.
8. Garnish and Serve with crackers, Wheat Thins preferred.

A view from the Pennsylvania Bacon Fest that was held in Center Square, Easton, PA on the weekend of November 7 &8 2015.  PA Bacon Fest Information.

Bacon Ranch Cheeseball Inspired by 16th& Bliss by

Ranch Dressing is adapted from Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing recipe by OnceUponAChef.com