Heavyset Cheesey-Pine Cones

Interesting, huh?

This cheeseball would be great for Fall or Winter! Your guests will absolutely love it for Thanksgiving and Christmas, too! People who gather for football or basketball games would also enjoy this! This is much easier to do than it might "sound" on paper.

This particular recipe will make 2 pine cones.

1 1/4 cup almonds (whole)

1 (8 ounce) package of cream cheese (softened)

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 teaspoon garlic (optional)

3 slices of crisply cooked bacon, crumbled

1/2 teaspoon dill (spice)

salt and pepper (to individual taste)

1 tablespoon chopped green onions

Either use some rosemary OR real sprigs from a pine tree OR fake pine tree sprigs (your choice)

crackers of your choice

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Place and spread out all of the almonds on an ungreased cookie sheet OR in a shallow pan. Let them heat until they are the color of a pine cone, fairly dark. This will take about 20 minutes.

Mix together the cheese and mayonnaise. Add the crumbled bacon, salt, pepper, dill and garlic, if you want. Add the green onions. Mix well. Chill overnight so that the flavors can mingle well.

On a serving platter, make 2 pine cone shapes out of the cheese mixture. Remember that pine cones are narrower at one end than they are at the other end.

Starting at the NARROW end of the pine cone, begin to place the almonds at a slight angle into the cheese.

Do this in side to side rows until all of the cheese is covered by the almonds. Stick your sprigs into the cheese at the WIDE end of the pine cone.

Serve at room temperature and allow your guests to spread the cheeseball onto crackers.

VLE-B