Peanut Butter Cheeseball: An Easy Dessert for Sharing

A cheeseball usually arrives at a party surrounded by crackers and someone asking whether there’s enough room in the fridge for it. This one looks the part, but the first bite is all peanut butter, cream cheese and chocolate. It’s a dessert cheeseball, and I’d put it straight in the middle of the table with plenty of things for dipping.

We first featured Christy Denney’s peanut butter “cheese” ball from The Girl Who Ate Everything back in 2011. It is still such a fun idea for a birthday, game night or dessert platter: make one sweet centrepiece, surround it with apple slices and biscuits, and let everyone help themselves. You can get Christy’s full peanut butter cheeseball recipe and instructions here.

What Is a Peanut Butter Cheeseball?

Think of a thick, sweet peanut butter and cream cheese mixture shaped into a ball, chilled until firm, then covered in chocolate and peanut butter chips. You serve it as a dip rather than cutting it into slices.

It has the familiar look of a savoury party cheeseball, which is half the fun. Put it out without an explanation and wait for someone to discover that the coating is chocolate.

What Should You Serve With It?

Christy suggests graham crackers and apple slices, and both make sense. The crackers give you that biscuit-and-peanut-butter combination, while tart apple helps cut through the sweetness.

For a dessert platter, I’d set out a few choices:

• Apple slices
• Graham crackers or plain sweet biscuits
• Pretzel twists for a sweet and salty bite
• Strawberries
• Shortbread fingers

Choose sturdy dippers. A delicate biscuit may break when someone tries to scoop a generous amount, and there is always someone who goes back for a generous amount.

Tips for Serving a Dessert Cheeseball

Allow time for chilling. This is a make-ahead party dessert. The mixture needs to firm up before it can be shaped and coated neatly, so don’t leave it until guests are at the door.

Keep the dippers separate until serving. Biscuits stay crisp and apple slices look fresher when you arrange the platter at the last minute.

Put out a small spreading knife. It gives guests another way to serve themselves if the cheeseball is firm or their chosen biscuit is fragile.

Check for peanut allergies. Peanut butter is the main flavour here, so label the platter clearly if you’re serving a crowd.

If you like desserts that can sit at the centre of a help-yourself platter, our strawberry cheesecake dip is another lovely one to make for a gathering.

Get the Peanut Butter Cheeseball Recipe

Christy’s recipe includes the ingredient quantities, chilling time and directions for coating the ball in chocolate and peanut butter chips. Head to The Girl Who Ate Everything for the complete peanut butter “cheese” ball recipe.

This is exactly the sort of party dessert I like: it looks as though you’ve made a proper centrepiece, but everyone can simply grab a biscuit and dig in.