[2] What’s inside the cheese ball? In this recipe, it’s red and green bell peppers (photo Claire Freierman | © THE NIBBLE).

[3] Cream cheese is the base in Recipe #1, goat cheese in Recipe #2 (photo © Philadelphia Cream Cheese).

Turn cheese balls into holiday ornaments with the right coatings. This recipe from Philadelphia Cream Cheese uses only cream cheese, but you can use your favorite cheese ball recipe.

Instead of one big cheese ball, you make mini cheese balls with different coatings.

We prefer to take the recipe one step further and flavor the cream cheese. We like bell pepper cream cheese, jalapeño cream cheese, olive cream cheese and scallion cream cheese; and for a splurge, smoked salmon cream cheese rolled in fresh dill.
 
 
DESSERT CHEESE BALLS

You can also make a dessert version to serve with cookies, like chocolate cream cheese (with cocoa powder and sugar), chocolate chip cream cheese (or other chip flavor), berry cream cheese (blueberry, raspberry, strawberry) and peanut butter cream cheese, rolled in cocoa powder, coconut or mini chocolate chips. But back to the savory:
 
 
RECIPE #1: HOLIDAY CHEESE BALLS

Ingredients

 
Plus

 
Serve With

 
Preparation

1. CUT the cream cheese brick into 6 two-ounce pieces; roll each into ball. If you’re flavoring the cream cheese, finely chop and blend in the mix-ins before shaping the balls.

3. ROLL 2 cheese balls in the sesame seed mixture, 2 cheese balls in the herb mixture and the remaining 2 cheese balls in the nut mixture.

4. WRAP each ball in plastic and refrigerate until ready to serve. Alternatively, you can place them in an airtight food storage container, lightly covered with plastic before you close the lid.

RECIPE #2: CHRISTMAS GOAT CHEESE LOGS

The glamorous goat cheese log in the photo couldn’t be easier. If you’d rather turn it into round “tree ornaments. See Step 2.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. MIX roughly-chopped dried cranberries and pistachio nuts and place them on wax paper on a work surface.

2. ROLL the log of goat cheese in the mixture, pressing down lightly so the mixture adheres. If you’d rather have round balls of goat cheese, let the cheese soften, form it into balls, and return it to the fridge until it hardens enough to roll easily.

3. WRAP the finished log tightly in plastic and refrigerate until serving.
 
TIP: See if you can score some honey goat cheese logs (we get ours at Trader Vic’s). They’re a revelation.
 
 
MORE HOLIDAY CHEESE BALL IDEAS

[3] Goat cheese log from More Than Hungry.

[4] We love this Christmas tree cheese “ball.” Here’s the recipe from Betty Crocker.

TOP PHOTO: Dress your holiday table with a Christmas tree napkin fold. Photo courtesy BHG.com. BOTTOM PHOTO: A Star Of David napkin fold for Chanukah. Photo courtesy Expert Village.

Some people go all out decorating the holiday table: bowls of ornaments, candelabra, flowers, holly, miniature rosemary trees, pine boughs, pine cones, pomanders, reindeer, ribbons, the works.

We always have so much food on the table that we need to keep things simple. We do it with a special tablecloth and napkins.

And napkin folds.

Last year we folded the dinner napkins in the shape of a traditional Christmas tree. This year, it’s a more abstract tree with a star.

We found the top napkin fold on BHG.com, the website of Better Homes & Gardens.

BHG has topped it with a star-shaped napkin ring. We don’t have star-shaped rings, but have jeweled gold-tone rings that will do the trick…unless we can pick up star rings on sale a day or two before Christmas.

See how to fold the napkin, including a video, at BHG.com.
 
MORE HOLIDAY NAPKIN FOLDS

If you don’t want a tree, FabArtDIY.com has collected 20 different holiday folds.

Chinet has a nice collection, including a poinsettia and a double star. There are also year-round designs.

We like how NancyCreative.com folds napkins into festive bows.

Elf hats, anyone? Here’s a video from Good Housekeeping.
 
CHANUKAH NAPKIN FOLD

Celebrating Chanukah? Here’s a Star of David. Star of David napkin fold (photo above).

If you think you can do it, try this Star Of David, based on origami techniques.

WHO ORIGINATED NAPKIN FOLDING?

The art of napkin folding is called napery. The word comes from the Old French naperie, tablecloth.

Not surprisingly, it started with royalty. According to one source, the art dates back to the around 1400, a time when warm napkins or even perfumed napkins graced the tables of the elite. Another source credits the reign of Louis XIV, 1643-1715.

The craft trickled down to the homes of the wealthy and almost-wealthy (the upper middle class). At fine tables in the 19th century, starched napkins were artfully folded nightly.
 
What About The Napkin Ring?

The use of napkin rings began in Europe during the Napoleonic era, 1799 to 1815. They were developed not for royalty, but for the bourgeoisie (middle class).

The wealthy could afford freshly-laundered napkins at every meal; but the bourgeoisie lacked the servant bandwidth to make that happen. As a result, one cloth napkin would be used for all the meals in one day, or even for an entire week. Monogrammed napkin rings identified whom each napkin belonged to.

In modern times, napkin rings have become decorative, and using them is much quicker than napery.

Interested in the craft? Get a book on napkin folding and go to town! Gearing up for Valentine’s Day, the cover photo of the linked book is a pink napkin in a heart-shape fold.
 
  

Ingredients

Try these crumb bars with a morning cup of coffee or as a snack. Photo courtesy Bella Baker.

Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F. Line a 9×13 glass baking dish with aluminum foil and spray foil with nonstick spray.

2. MIX together in a bowl 1-3/4 cups sugar, the oats, flour, almond meal, salt, cinnamon and baking powder. Use your fingertips or a pastry cutter to blend in the butter. With a fork, mix in the eggs to create a dough that comes together. The dough will be a little crumbly. Pat half of the dough into the buttered pan.

3. STIR together in another bowl the second 1-3/4 cups sugar, potato starch, vanilla and orange juice. Mix in the cranberries. Pour the cranberry mixture evenly over the dough in the pan.

4. CRUMBLE the remaining dough over the berries and gently pat down so that dough is covering all of the cranberries. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the top is a light golden brown.

5. COOL completely and chill in the refrigerator before cutting into squares. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
  

TOP PHOTO: Pinnacle Vodka has 40 flavors, including holiday flavors like Peppermint Bark and Pumpkin Pie. BOTTOM PHOTO: One-ounce, colored shot glasses are the way to go. Photo courtesy Party Essentials.

Looking to do something different for a holiday get-together with friends? While there’s always a holiday drinks menu, here’s an idea that requires no mixing: flavored shots.

The flavored spirits category is “on fire,” according to Liquor.com. a website for industry professionals. You can now find flavored bourbons and ryes*, in addition to the pioneer category of flavored vodka and the flavored tequilas† that followed vodka’s success.

Now before the angry comments begin, let us emphasize that this is not a lets-get-loaded shots party. It’s a responsible let’s-taste-some-flavored-spirits-straight opportunity. The novelty for many people is tasting flavored spirits outside of a mixed drink.

In fact, sipping from a shot glass is our favorite way to enjoy flavored spirits. And for planning purposes, four different flavors are about as much as people should have in an evening, even with designated drivers. While a standard shot is 1.5 ounces (44 milliliters) for 80 proof distilled spirits, take it down to 1 ounce.

What if people want more than four ounces? Flavored club soda or spritzers.
 
WHERE DO YOU GET THE SHOT GLASSES?

You can buy clear one-ounce plastic shot glasses or two-ounce shot glasses. They can be washed and reused for another occasion.

But if you’re serving vodka or tequila, since the sprits are clear, we think colored shot glasses are all-around better. Not only are they festive, but you can color-code the pours.

 
WHAT FLAVORS SHOULD YOU PICK?

Your options are based on what spirit you choose. Pinnacle, for example, has more than 40 flavors of vodka. There are large numbers of flavored tequilas, and the numbers get smaller with whiskey.

For vodka, you can choose four different fruits from the many options, or make the party more holiday-focused with specialty flavors like Pinnacle’s Caramel Apple, Peppermint Bark, Salted Caramel, Whipped Cream and Chocolate Whipped Cream.

Pinnacle doesn’t make a cranberry vodka, but other distillers do, including Bear Hug, Deep Eddy, Smirnoff and Sobieski.

And then there’s what your local liquor stores carry—or don’t.
 
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SHOTS AND SHOOTERS

Both shooters and shots are served in shot glasses. Shots are 100% spirits; shooters are mini-cocktails, combining spirits and/or liqueurs with non-alcoholic mixers.

Traditionally, both are consumed in one gulp, but we recommend breaking with the tradition of chugging. Chugging is for people who want to make a certain statement; sipping is for people who want to taste what they drink.

As always, plan ahead for designated drivers and don’t forget the plain or flavored club soda for in-between.
 
_______________________________________
*Flavored bourbons include Knob Creek Smoked Maple Bourbon and; Red Stag Black Cherry, Hardcore Cider, Honey Tea and Spiced; and Wild Turkey Spiced Bourbon. Flavored ryes include Pow-Wow Botanical Rye (saffron and orange peel), Even Dewar’s has Highland Honey Scotch. And Kings County Distillery in Brooklyn produces the makes chocolate whiskey. Also look for Bird Dog Maple, a best-seller, and Canadian Mist Peach, among others.

†There are numerous flavored tequilas: almond, banana, chile, chocolate, coconut, coffee, lime, mandarin, mango, pear, pomegranate, strawberry and watermelon. Check out these.
 
  

But offer guests holiday drink menu. Here are some of the beverages we serve, all with a holiday theme.

HOLIDAY BEVERAGES

Wine

 
Seasonal Beer

Turn to craft breweries for seasonal beers and ales. Many craft beers are only distributed regionally, but here are some we’ve found in wider distributions (check your local shelves for options):

 
Cranberry Cocktails

 
Eggnog Cocktails

In addition to all kinds of variations on traditional eggnog recipes, there are also eggnog cocktails which have fewer calories than straight eggnog (which is perhaps the most caloric beverage on earth).

 
Ginger Cocktails

TOP PHOTO: A cranberry and mint leaf garnish works for any cocktail. Photo courtesy Sarah’s Joy. BOTTOM PHOTO: Egg nog is less caloric in an eggnog cocktail. Photo courtesy Selva Rey Rum.

Chanukah Cocktails

 
Warm Drinks

 
Non-Alcoholic Drinks