We had a last-minute Halloween party sneak up on us. No, not like in a fun, Hitchcockian way (I wonder if anyone has ever made that word up and used it in a sentence like I just did) but in a hurry-up-and-look-properly-festive kind of way. Baby Z's cousin lives in Queens so they wanted to come out to our neighborhood for trick-or-treating. Not sure what that says about Queens but, we loved the idea of the cousins joining forces for some candy hunting. So we added another kid to the list and his parents and their in-laws in town, and they told their friends, and so on and so on... and all of a sudden, without any prep time, I'm running around like a deranged bat out of hell (in a bathrobe no less) vacuuming and baking with 30 minutes before guests are due to arrive. I managed to scare up (I know, I just rolled my eyes too) some decorations and dug out a strand of little lights. But flaked on what Halloween treats to serve. I do have an old standby: the pumpkin chocolate chip cookie, which, by the way, is ah-maaazing. But seeing as how the main objective of the day was to acquire absurd amounts of candy and sugar, I needed a non-sugar, festive appetizer that contained some protein to balance out the carb overload. I found it. Cheese! And pumpkin shaped. And really easy to make. Isn't she cute?!
Here's the recipe from Allrecipes.com:
Shape the Cheddar and cream cheese mixture into the shape of a small pumpkin and add a broccoli stem to serve as the stem. Serve with fresh apple wedges for an autumn appetzier.
Yield: 16 servings
Ingredients
- 2 (8-ounce) blocks extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
- 1 (8-ounce) container chive-and-onion cream cheese
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
- 1 broccoli stalk
- Red and green apple wedges
Preparation
Combine Cheddar cheese and next 4 ingredients in a bowl until blended. Cover and chill 4 hours or until mixture is firm enough to be shaped.
Shape mixture into a ball to resemble a pumpkin. Smooth entire outer surface with a frosting spatula or table knife. Make vertical grooves in ball, if desired, using fingertips.
Cut florets from broccoli stalk, and reserve for another use. Cut stalk to resemble a pumpkin stem, and press into top of cheese ball. Serve cheese ball with apple wedges.
Note: To make ahead, wrap cheese ball in plastic wrap without stalk, and store in refrigerator up to 2 days. Attach stalk before serving.
