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In honor of the new 6 oz. snack cube cheeses, Crystal Farms came up with a delicious meatball that includes a cheese cube stuffed into each meatball.I am here to tell you that it makes a very tasty meataballa!

However, I warn you that you will be unable to resist popping cheese cubes into my mouth during the meatball-making process. There are four flavors to choose from – gouda, white sharp cheddar, marble jack and pepper jack. The recipe calls for using the latter two cheese inside the meatballs.

The Crystal Farms recipe calls for creating meatball skewers after baking the meatballs. The skewers consist of meatball, pickle, lettuce and grape or cherry tomato – a deconstructed California burger minus bun. I liked the idea. All I needed was skewers, and I was surprised to find how readily available they are these days. I thought I would have to go to the supermarket dummy desk and ask where to find skewers, but just as I was considering the idea I saw not one but two different skewer displays. I call that cooking kismet – these cheesy meatballs were meant to be skewered.

As is often the case, I followed the recipe religiously, measuring the prescribed amounts in every instance. In hindsight I have to say that you could increase the amount of any of the dry ingredients and add some more of your favorites. For example, next time I might up the garlic and onion powders to a tablespoon rather than a teaspoon, and maybe add some pepper flakes. And make the paprika smoked.

Here’s what you need:

• Crystal Farms Snack Cubes of your chosen flavor (I used Pepper Jack and Marble Jack, but gouda and sharp white cheddar would be equally tasty)

• 1 lb ground beef (I used ground chuck)

• 1 egg, beaten

• 1/3 cup breadcrumbs

• 1 tsp garlic powder

• 1 tsp onion powder

• 1/4 tsp salt (I used bacon-smoked salt)

• 1/4 tsp pepper

• 1/2 tsp paprika

Instructions

 Preheat oven to 400°. Line baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Mix ingredients together and form small, round balls.

Stuff each ball with one Crystal Farms Snack Cube so the meat is wrapped around the cheese.

Bake on prepared pan for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through. Place cooked meatballs on skewers and top with lettuce, pickles, and tomatoes. Enjoy!

The instructions say it makes 20 meatballs, but I only got 14.

I thought I’d done a good job of sealiing the meatballs, but nearly everyone had some cheese leakage, which turned into a sort of meaty, cheesy crackling that you will want to include.

Next time, I would also make a tomato chutney to serve on the side.