This adorable cheese ball gets its pumpkin-orange coloring from ground-up cheese puffs and the stem is cleverly stolen from a bell pepper.
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 20 min |
| Active: | 20 min |
| Yield: | 10 to 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 cups orange cheese puffs
- 2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
- 3 cups shredded Cheddar
- 1/4 cup chopped chives
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 bell pepper with a long stem
- Crackers, for serving
Instructions
- Put the cheese puffs in a food processor and process until finely ground. Transfer to a rimmed baking sheet.
- Combine the cream cheese, Cheddar, chives, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a large bowl and mix to combine. Mold the mixture into a ball, pressing the top of the ball with your hand to flatten it. With the tip of a butter knife, carve lines down the sides to resemble a pumpkin.
- Roll the cheese ball in the ground cheese puffs. Remove the entire bell pepper stem with a paring knife and put it on top of the cheeseball as the pumpkin stem. Seed and slice the bell pepper. Serve the cheeseball on a plate with crackers and slices of bell pepper.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 12 servings |
| Calories | 394 |
| Total Fat | 36 g |
| Saturated Fat | 20 g |
| Carbohydrates | 6 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 0 g |
| Sugar | 3 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Cholesterol | 112 mg |
| Sodium | 483 mg |
Reviews
I made this for a party and added a Jack-O-Lantern face out of ripe olives. I also used a mini dill pickle in place of the pepper stem. I also added horseradish, which I do for every cheese ball. It was a hit and easier to make than I thought. It does make a BIG cheese ball, however.
Love it! Brought to work and everyone loved it.
Love it!
BEST HALLOWEEN CHEESE DIP ON THIS EARTH!
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I added some Tabasco sauce which gave it a little kick. Very easy and was a huge hit!!
I made this recipe except that I also added chopped blanched slivered almonds and I used green onions because I couldn’t find chives and a dash of Worcestershire sauce and it was great. The crushed cheese puffs give no flavor which i was glad for. it was very easy to mold. I just used the side of my finger to indent lines down and around the pumpkin.
No flavor! I had to add garlic powder, Worcester sauce, horseradish, red pepper flakes, and white pepper and sriracha sauce to give it a little kick!
I made this last year for our work Halloween lunch and it was a huge hit! I thought it came out great. Messy to put together but it looked perfect!
I can’t believe I made this and it looked just like a pumpkin! I am not crafty but it was easy to do. I brought it to a party and it was a HIT!! I bet you could do this to a store bought cheese ball for a fast hors d’oeuvre! The hardest thing was not eating all the cheese puffs before making this!
So delish!!!