Smoky cheese spread

Tonight I made some food for a few friends as a housewarming present, and I couldn't think what would be happier than some Swedish meatballs and a smoky cheese ball, both recipes from my 1981 Better Homes & Gardens recipe binder. I've already made the Swedish meatballs many times, including for this blog, as Dave is a big fan. However, I hadn't yet made the smoky cheese ball, so here's how it went.

The spread contains a mixture of many happy things:

• Cream cheese
• Shredded cheddar cheese
• Butter
• Milk
• Steak sauce (I used A1, naturally)

The steak sauce gave it a nice smoky flavor. Because it contained so much cream cheese and shredded cheese and almost no liquids, the cheese spread probably would have made quite a nice ball. However, other cheese balls I have made from BH&G were a little on the flat side, and since I was transporting this for an hour or so, I didn't want it to deflate, so I just put it in a bowl as a spread and topped it with chopped almonds.


It was really good and was definitely a hit with the friends. This is probably the best cheese spread I've tried, and I'd definitely make it again. It makes so much that it would work for even a large party. Now, about getting a house big enough for a large party...