Peanut Butter Cheese Ball
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Move over classic cheese ball and make room for peanut butter and chocolate chips! This fabulous party snack looks stunning, tastes divine, and is perfect as a seasonal holiday recipe.
Great to serve with pretzels, cookies, or even cut apple slices, this peanut butter cheese ball recipe is a potluck favorite.
Why you should make a Cheese Ball
A Fancy Dip – Cheeseballs are simply fancy looking dips. Unlike a simple peanut butter apple dip in a bowl or a chocolate chip dip that piles up high, peanut butter cheeseball dip has a gorgeous display and looks fancy.
Fun Variations – The peanut butter cream cheese base makes this recipe simple to turn into Reese’s Peanut Butter Ball. Use Reese’s special peanut butter and add crushed peanut butter cups over mini chocolate chips.
Ingredients
- Cream cheese – To work well with cream cheese, it should be softened before the recipe. Open up the box and foil and let it sit on the counter for 15-20 minutes before starting.
- Butter – Same as cream cheese, it needs to be softened (but not melted!!).
- Creamy peanut butter – We do not recommend crunchy peanut butter in a traditional classic cheeseball.
- Vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar
- Chocolate chips – See the list below for other suggestions, other than mini chocolate chips, to decorate the outer layer of a cheeseball.
How to make a Peanut Butter Cheese Ball
- Add cream cheese, 1 cup peanut butter, butter, and vanilla to a mixing bowl and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. An electric mixture or stand mixer should work fine if the cream cheese and butter are softened. Use a spatula to remove the excess mix from beaters as needed.
- Add powdered sugar and beat until combined. Fold in 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips.
- Shape the peanut butter mixture into a ball and place it onto a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap into a ball and secure tightly. Refrigerate for four hours or overnight.
- Place mini chocolate chips in a thick but single layer on a plate.
- Remove the plastic wrap and press the cheeseball into the chips. Add more chocolate chips to the plate and flip the cheeseball over and press chocolate chips into all sides of the ball.
- Place cheeseball on a serving plate.
- Add two tablespoons of peanut butter to a resealable sandwich bag but do not seal—microwave at 50% power for 15 seconds.
- Knead and, if necessary, return to the microwave for another heat cycle until peanut butter is soft and can be drizzled. Seal the bag, snip the tip, and drizzle peanut butter over the cheeseball.
- Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
- Let any refrigerated cheeseball stand 15-20 minutes at room temperature to soften before serving.
Decorating Peanut Butter Cheeseball
Traditionally, as we did in the chocolate chip cheese ball recipe, we use mini chocolate chips and a drizzle of melted peanut butter. These chocolate chips are also used to decorate the plate in addition to the peanut butter ball.
You can also use other chips like peanut butter chips or white chocolate chips to vary color and flavor. Lastly, try honey peanuts, crushed cashews, or go with smashed peanut butter cups or graham cracker crumbs as the fancy outer layer. If you have extra ingredients, make sure to try buckeye balls too!
Serve Creamy Peanut Butter Ball With
- Pretzels
- Graham crackers
- Nilla wafers
- Celery
- Mini Carrots
- Apple Slices
- Teddy Grahams
Peanut Butter Ball with Cream Cheese
Equipment
- plastic wrap
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Ball
- 4 oz. cream cheese softened
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 4 tbsp butter softened
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1½ cups powdered sugar
Decorating Peanut Butter Ball
- 2 tbsp peanut butter melted
- 12 oz. mini chocolate chips
Serve with
- Graham Crackers
- Pretzels
- Apple slices
Instructions
- Add softened cream cheese, 1 cup peanut butter, softened butter, and vanilla extract to a mixing bowl and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.
- Add powdered sugar and beat until combined.
- Fold in 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips.
- Shape into a ball and place onto a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap into a ball and secure tightly.
- Refrigerate cheeseball for four hours or overnight.
- Place mini chocolate chips in a thick, but single layer on a plate.
- Remove the plastic wrap and press the cheeseball into the mini chocolate chips. Add more chocolate chips to the plate and flip the cheeseball over and press chocolate chips into all sides until completely covered.
- Place peanut butter ball on a serving plate.
- Add 2 tablespoons of peanut butter to a resealable sandwich bag but do not seal the bag. Microwave at 50% power for 15 seconds. Knead and if necessary return to the microwave for another heat cycle until peanut butter is soft and can be drizzled.
- Seal the bag and snip the tip and drizzle peanut butter over the cheeseball.
- Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Let any refrigerated cheeseball stand 15-20 minutes at room temperature to soften before serving.
Notes
- Pretzels
- Graham crackers
- Nilla wafers
- Celery
- Mini Carrots
- Apple Slices
- Teddy Grahams
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer: The nutritional data provided here is auto-calculated and intended for your convenience only. As it’s generated via automation, its accuracy may be compromised. For precise nutritional insight, please compute the values utilizing the actual ingredients in your recipe through your chosen nutrition calculator or application.
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