Sausage Balls

We have a little tradition on my side of the family ... and it's called sausage balls.

While, yes, the recipe is on the bisquick box, my mom is the BEST at making them, and she's made a few tweaks over the years that make them soooo GOOD!

Whenever the weather starts changing and the holidays start rolling around, everyone in my family starts craving these little beauties. So I thought I'd share with you our tricks and tips with a tutorial on Sausage Balls!!!

Here we go!

Start off by browning 1 lb. of sausage. I like to use either mild or regular (not hot!)

You DEFINITELY want to cook your sausage before you make your balls! Some people put them together raw and then bake them and these do not come out right!! ...and it's gross that you don't get to drain the grease or anything, yikes!

So go ahead and drain off all the grease.

In a mixing bowl put 2 cups of bisquick.

The original recipe calls for 3 cups, but we've found that the balls don't hold together very well and you end up just tasting dough when you eat them instead of the cheesy sausage goodness ;)

Then add 10 oz. of sharp cheddar cheese, grated.

And pour that sausage right in

Here's where things get messy! (take off all jewelry)

Start mashing the mixture together with your hands.

Then pinch off little pieces and start rolling them into balls.

from here you have three options:

Option #1 - cook them!

Option #2 - refrigerate them for several days and eat them at your leisure, making a few at a time (usually what I do)

Option #3 - freeze them and save them for when you have guests over, etc.

Any way they are delicious!

to cook them, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

when you put them on the pan, you're going to want to put foil and then spray the foil with cooking spray.

this will help them not to stick and rip apart when you take them off!

cook them for 10 minutes!

and they'll come out perfect little balls of yumminess!

Enjoy!