Sausage Cheese Balls

I used this recipe for New Year's Eve's ball-themed Family Game Night, however it wasn't the first night I made them.  The backstory to the recipe:  My friend Martha hosted the 4th Annual Holiday Cookie Swap the week before Christmas.  Our friend, Lorrie, brought these Sausage Cheese Balls as a pre-swap offering.  These may have been renamed that night as "hot cakes" as that is how fast they went.  They are more like little biscuit nuggets with amazing flavoring.

I made them for the first time last Sunday, for a Circle gathering to watch our adopted team, the Philadelphia Eagles, as they beat the Dallas Cowboys.  For New Year's we served them, adding a little homemade queso sauce that Catherine came up with for dipping -- it was a fantastic touch!

• 3 cups Original Bisquick mix
• 1 lb. uncooked bulk pork sausage
  (I used half Italian sweet sausage and half hot sausage)
• 4 cups shredded Cheddar cheese (16 ounces)
• ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
• ½ cup milk
• ½ tsp. dried rosemary leaves, crushed
• 1 ½ tsp. chopped fresh parsley or ½ tsp. parsley flakes

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350ºF.
2. Prepare a baking sheet by lining with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients using hands or a stand mixer.
4. Using a small scoop, shape mixture into balls and place on the baking sheet.
5. Bake 20-25 minutes or until brown.
6. Immediately remove from pan.
7. Serve warm with sauce for dipping -- queso, barbecue, or chili sauce, if desired

Yields about 100 meatballs

Adapted from Betty Crocker