It’s fun to take a simple, everyday recipe and make it better, such as adding DOTS and maple syrup to Rice Krispie-style bars or putting science and good taste (and bacon) to work to make the best mac & cheese possible.
Betty Crocker has had a longstanding recipe for sausage-cheese balls, which in all fairness are pretty good, given what they are. But what if you used better sausage and substituted a more flavorful cheese? In other words, an upgrade. I did this by swapping in homemade apple sausage and Gruyère cheese: the results were delicious. Not to say that this isn’t still a pedestrian appetizer, but hey, simple can still be good.
What you’ll need for the basic recipe
- *1.5 cups Original Bisquick mix
- **8 oz apple pork sausage (raw)
- 8 oz shredded Gruyère cheese
- 0.25 cups grated Parmesan cheese
- 0.25 cups milk, coconut milk or soy milk
- Honey-mustard dip (optional)
**What you’ll need for the apple sausage (the sausage-cheese balls use a half-recipe)
- 2T butter
- 1 apple, finely diced or grated
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 2T brown sugar
- 2T apple cider or apple juice
- 0.5t salt
- 1 lb. ground pork
**What to do for the apple sausage
Melt the butter in a frypan and sauté the apples and onions over medium heat until the onions begin to brown. This should take 10 – 15 minutes.
Add the brown sugar and apple juice/cider and cook until the liquid has somewhat cooked off and the apples have caramelized. Let the mixture cool for the next step.
Put the ground pork in medium bowl, add the salt and apple mixture and mix well, either with your hands or a spoon. Now it’s ready for the sausage-cheese ball recipe.
What to do to assemble and cook the sausage-cheese balls
Begin heating the oven to 350ºF and lightly grease the bottom of a sheet pan, or line it with parchment paper.
Stir together the Bisquick, shredded cheeses, milk and raw sausage with a spoon or your hands. Fully incorporate the ingredients, but don’t over-mix them. Shape the mixture into 1.5- – 2-inch balls and place them on the sheet pan.
Bake 20 – 30 minutes or until browned and at least 165ºF in the center of a ball. Immediately remove from the pan. Serve warm with your favorite dipping sauce.
*No Bisquick? Here’s how to make some
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1.5t baking powder
- 0.25t salt
- 1T butter
Whisk the first 3 ingredients in a medium bowl. Work the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers until it’s fully incorporated and no chunks of butter remain. That’s it.
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