If there is ever a time to have some fun with your food, it’s Halloween. Dress it up and make some Halloween Cheese Ball Monsters adorned with California Ripe Olives for eyes, spiders and snakes this Halloween.
For the one time of year where it’s totally okay to disguise yourself as a different character, leave spiderwebs all over your house and really go all out with the creepy and crawly decorations, you might as well have as much fun as you can.
By fun, for me, it means playing with my food in a different way than I normally do. You are lucky to get me into a costume that involves anything more than what I already own and I prefer that Halloween party to be low-key but the food should be fun.
Halloween means more than overloading on sugary treats and a whole lot of chocolate. Don’t get me wrong, I love Halloween candy – it’s pretty hard to resist bite sized bites of your favorite treats but today, I’m going to serve up bite sized bites of another kind.
If there is one food that is guaranteed to go over well at any party it’s the cheese ball. How could it not? A giant ball of cheese that’s flavored and at the perfect spreadable consistency.
Cheese balls are totally customizable too and with a little adornment from California Ripe Olives they turn from the perfect appetizer to the perfect Halloween party centerpiece. What I love about California Black Olives is the fact that I always have some on hand, I love to just snack on them (no pits friends!) and when you do want to get crafty with your food they make the perfect set of eyes.
Now I admit, I definitely had a lot of fun making my Halloween monsters by myself but if I had a kid or maybe a niece or nephew hanging around I’d let them in on the fun too. Let them help you shape the individual sized balls and after you’ve cut the slices, they can go ahead and place the eyes or make a black olive snake.
Ingredients
- 4 ounces goat cheese, room temperature
- 1/4 cup cream cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- black sesame seeds
- blue corn tortilla chips
- California Ripe Olives
- pimentos
- 2 1/4 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- California Ripe Olives
- pimentos
- sliced bell peppers
Instructions
- Place the goat cheese, cream cheese, salt and pepper in your food processor and pulse 6-8 times until combined.
- Scoop out the cheese and form into golf ball sized balls (about 1 1/2 and 2 ounces).
- Roll the balls in black sesame seeds until they are completely covered.
- Sliced some California Black Ripe Olives for the eyes and place on the cheese balls, insert pieces of pimentos in the center of the eyes. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or overnight to firm up.
- Before serving, insert 2 tortilla chips on each side for bat wings.
- Place 2 cups cheddar cheese, cream cheese, worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and cayenne pepper in your food processor. Pulse until combined and the cheddar cheese is smooth.
- Scoop out and form into different sized balls - for these you'll want to do some golf sized individual balls, 1 ball a little large to form into a pumpkin and one that's about 3 ounces in size for the hairy monster.
- To make the hairy monster - take the reserved 1/4 cup of cheese and roll it around the cheese ball. Insert a slice of bell pepper on the top and then a whole black olive with a piece of pimento at the other end on the other end of the bell pepper for the eye. Place in the refrigerator to firm up. The bell pepper will start to droop over as it chills, so if you want it to stand straight up when you serve, wait to insert the pepper.
- To make the snake going after the pumpkin - use a broccoli stem or bell pepper stem for the pumpkin stem and then with a pairing knife make lines down the cheese ball to mimic a pumpkin. Once you are ready to serve, line whole black olives on your platter to form a snake and for the face place two drops of cream cheese and black sesame seeds as the eyes. Insert a piece of pimento for the tongue.
- To make the remaining monsters - for a spider, cut a black olive in half lengthwise for the body and then make legs with the other half (you'll probably need another olive for more legs). You can make a goofy man with some olives for eyes and a pimento as the tongue.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
These are so very fun…and scary! Love that you used goat cheese!
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These are so cute! My daughter would love these snacks!
Susan, you always impress me with your creativity. That final photo with all of the little critters is so cool.
Thanks Lori! That was the first picture I had in my mind before I started it all and then I decided to give each critter their own feature.
Bwahahahaha these are freaking amazing! So cute, Susan. Fuggedabout the kids – can I come over and help decorate a few?
Oh my goodness! These are absolutely adorable! What a blast to decorate!
This was such a good idea! I’m such a sucker for a cheeseball too. I know it’s retro, but I mean, it’s a ball of cheese! Who wouldn’t love that??
Exactly! If someone puts a ball of cheese in front of me, I don’t care what shape it is, I’m going to eat it.
You made me laugh with your creative little character.
Well done!!!!!
These are so stinking cute!!