As we were searching online for ideas for a 60s cocktail party, I found this recipe and decided I HAD to make it! It also inspired us to have Mai Tais available at the bar with tiki accessories, and even though the cheese mixture has pineapple, pecans, onion powder, garlic powder and seasoned salt, everyone at the party loved the taste!
This is quite a simple recipe. First make sure the cream cheese is softened at room temperature so you can stir all the ingredients into the mixture. I bought two bags of whole pecans and sorted out the broken pieces I couldn’t use for decoration, and those were chopped for the cheese mixture. I omitted the green onions but the rest went together great, and when I licked the spoon after I was done, it was quite tasty! I put my cheese mixture back in the fridge in a covered bowl from Thursday evening until Saturday morning, then thawed a little before forming the pineapple shape.
The recipe I found online recommended an oval platter, but I thought my round platter would work well flanked by classic rectangular butter crackers and Ritz rounds. I cut the top off the fresh pineapple and placed it on the platter first, using a scoop of cheese mixture to keep it in place, then I spooned out the rest of the cheese in a rough pile and patted it into shape with my clean hands.
It took two bags of pecans to have enough intact enough to look nice enough as the overlapping pineapple skin pattern. I started at the very bottom in a tight circle, then overlapped the pecans slightly, pressing them firmly into the cheese so they would stay in place even on the sides. The longest part of this process was sorting through the pecans to decide on which ones to place next, since some were smaller and many were broken enough that I couldn’t hide the chips in the overlap. By the time I was finished, I thought it looked adorable!
After all the pecans were in place, I used aluminum foil to cover it for transport, tucking the foil firmly in place around the entire shape in hopes no pecans would fall off in transit. That worked, and it arrived at the party in perfect shape, ready for Ritz and butter crackers!
Since it ended up as a more intimate party, I had about 2/3rds of the pineapple cheese ball leftover, so I removed the pineapple top and dumped it into an airtight container, where I enjoyed a little bit each evening and it lasted a full week just fine. The whole pecans got a little soft, but they stayed crunchier than I expected. The full recipe is below so you can make your own, and be sure to check out the rest of the 60s cocktail party and the Psychedelic 60s Tie-Dye Angel Food Cake!
Pineapple Cheese Ball
(adapted from this recipe)
1 lb cream cheese room temperature
8 oz crushed pineapple, drained
1 c pecan, chopped
1 Tbsp Lowery’s seasoned salt
1/2 tsp granulated onion powder
1 tsp granulated garlic
2 green onions, finely chopped (optional)
pecans for garnish
pineapple top for garnish
Mix everything except garnish into softened cream cheese. Flavors are best melding in the fridge a couple days. Allow to harden in the fridge, then mold into an elongated ball. Decorate with pecans and the pineapple top for serving.
Subscribe RSS
