Patriotic Bald Eagle Cheese Ball

This is a sponsored post by Challenge butter, but the text and opinions are all mine. Thank you for supporting brands that make Kylee's Kitchen possible!

I launched Kylee’s Kitchen the year after I graduated college. I was working a stressful job with terrible hours (11 p.m. to 7 a.m.) for little pay. I wasn’t able to sleep much, and I was very depressed and lonely. The blog became my creative outlet. It helped me to feel inspired. It gave me a purpose.

Baking cupcakes and cookies has always brought me so much joy because I love decorating food. I felt that same joy while making this cheeseball. 

It truly was a lot of fun sculpting the eagle’s body and carefully placing the cheese shavings on its head.

I began to think about what other cheese balls I could create. Perhaps it will be a new series on Kylee’s Kitchen. Surely there’s a demand for cheese sculptures, right? 

As with most all of my recipes, it is indeed much easier than it looks. You can use just about any cheeseball recipe you want. This recipe works well because all the ingredients are all white, so it makes the eagle’s head look a little more believable (not sure if that’s the word I’m looking for, but you get the idea). Also, other than the little amount of blue cheese, I stayed away from soft cheeses and liquids like Worcestershire sauce (some recipes call for it) because I wanted his head to be as firm as possible.

No matter what your work and life situation is, I hope you feel as inspired and creative as I did when making this recipe.

Happy Fourth of July!

Bald Eagle Cheese Ball

Ingredients

• 2 (8 ounce) packages Challenge cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups shredded white sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup blue cheese
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 cup pecan halve
• 1 olive
• Slice of yellow pepper

Directions

1. Cream together the cream cheese, white sharp cheddar cheese, blue cheese, and garlic powder.
2. Use a spatula to dump the cheese mixture onto a large sheet of plastic wrap. Wrap it in the plastic wrap, form it into a ball, and let it chill in the refrigerator for at least hour.
3. While the cheese ball is still in the plastic wrap, start to form it into a cone so it resembles an eagle’s bodice.
4. About 1/3 way down from the top, make a neck be indenting the cheese. Remove the wrap.
5. Layer two rows of pecans around the base of the eagle like roof shingles.
6. Press shredded white cheese onto its head.
7. Cut an olive in half and add to both sides of head for the yes.
8. Stick a slice of yellow pepper into the front of its face to resemble a beak. Use a toothpick to secure it in place if you have problems.
9. Serve with blue tortilla chips and beet crackers to finish off your patriotic cheese ball.