My Festive Cheese Ball is sure to impress your guests this Christmas! Something a bit different to the usual cheese plate or dip platter, it’s simple to whip up and will be met with lots of compliments. There are heaps of different flavour variations you can try, I’ll be sharing another one with you this week!

30g parsley
20g baby spinach
20g spring onion, roughly chopped
100g vintage cheddar cheese, diced into 2cm cubes
40g sundried tomatoes, sliced
250g cream cheese, at room temperature, roughly chopped
50g fresh ricotta cheese (from the deli counter at the supermarket)
Big pinch of pepper
60g char-grilled/roasted red capsicum, cut into 1cm pieces (approx. 1/2 capsicum)

1. Place parsley, spinach and 10g of the spring onion (try to use mainly the greener bits for this part) in mixer bowl. Blitz for 4 seconds/speed 7/MC on. Scrape down bowl. Repeat. Transfer to a small bowl.

2. Weigh 15g of the parsley mixture back into the mixer bowl. Add remaining 10g spring onion, vintage cheese and sundried tomatoes. Grate for 4 seconds/speed 7/MC on. Scrape down bowl.

3. Add cream cheese, ricotta and pepper. Blend for 5 seconds/speed 5/MC on. Scrape down bowl. Repeat.

4. Add capsicum. Mix for 5 seconds/speed 4/MC on.

5. Lay out a piece of glad wrap (about 60cm long) on your kitchen counter. Place the parsley mixture from Step 1 onto the middle of the glad wrap, spreading out into a large circle.

6. Spoon cheese mixture onto the parsley, leaving about a 5cm border of parsley bare. Use your spatula to smooth out to a rough ball shape. Bring up the sides of the glad wrap to coat the sides of your ball. Twist glad wrap to enclose, shaping into a neat ball. Place (opening side down) on a small plate. Refrigerate for several hours, ideally overnight, before unwrapping and plating with crackers.