My husband Bric comes from a different land. It is known most commonly as San Diego California but I refer to it as that foreign land from which he hails. When he moved here it took him awhile to get adjusted to Southern Cuisine. He told me he didn’t like Meatloaf. Well, that is now one of his favorite meals. As we went through meal time after meal time he found that he loves southern foods and actually prefers most of what we cook to his previous foods. However, there are a few things that he begged me to learn how to make. Things that his Mom made him that he missed. Once I decided that I would keep him awhile I started asking his Mom for a few recipes of his favorite things. This is one of them, I had never heard of Olive Balls. And just wasn’t sure I would like them at all but they are Bric’s favorite and have become an all-around family favorite. He only gets them at Christmas though…you will soon understand why.
You are going to need 1 can of squirt cheese. The bacon flavored kind is the best but it is really hard to find so just grab whatever ya can. 1 Tablespoon of butter. 1 dash of Worcestershire sauce, 1 dash of hot sauce, 1 cup of flour, and lots of olives.
Squirt your whole can of cheese into a bowl. Mine kind of exploded a little and I made a bit of a mess.
It’s all good though.
Add in a dash of hot sauce.
Now, I get asked all the time how much a dash is. That totally depends on you.
My dash is about 5 or 6 shakes. Yours might be 3-4 or 7-8.
Add in a dash of Worcestershire sauce.
Add in the 1 Tablespoon of really softened butter and mix well.
Now add in the cup of flour. I have never known if it was self-rising or all-purpose flour so I have always used self-rising.
Mix everything up really well until it forms a soft dough.
Pinch off a SMALL piece of dough.
This is actually still to large a piece of dough and I had to divide it in half.
Flatten it out really good in the palm of your hand.
Did I mention that your hands are going to be all in this stuff?
Yeah, you might want to go wash them really good.
Place one olive in the middle
Roll the olive up in the dough
Make sure it is completely enclosed in the dough.
This is what takes the longest. When my Mother-In-Law e-mailed me this recipe her exact words were “Good luck, it takes a good while to wrap these little hummers”. And it does. I typically tell Bric that I will make them if he will roll them. Well, today he got out of that job since he got called into work. Merry Christmas Bric!
Place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
I always check mine and when the bottoms get just a little brown they are done.
Done! Mine are a little more done that I typically like but I got side-tracked for a few minutes and they cooked a little longer than I intended. Don’t get me wrong, they are still great, just a little more done than I like.
Did you see that big jar of olives I had?
This is all that is left.
Now, the problem here is what to do with them…make another batch or eat the remains.
I opted for eating the remains.
:0)
Olive Balls
1 TBSP softened butter
1 can of squirt cheese (cheddar bacon cheese is optimal)
1 dash of hot sauce
1 dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 cup of flour
lots of olives
Directions: Empty the can of squirt cheese in a bowl. Add the sauces and butter. Mix well. Add in the cup of flour and mix until it forms a soft dough.
Pinch off a small amount of dough and flatten, then wrap around an olive, sealing it as best you can.
Bake on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
