Cheese Pumpkins

LorenLou's Note:

The cutest thing for your Fall cheese board....attributed to Betty Crocker.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 12 pumpkins

• 8 ounces cheddar cheese processed cheese , well chilled (sharp or smoked)
• 4 miniature pretzel twists or 4 pretzel sticks
• 12 fresh parsley leaves
• 2 teaspoons very finely chopped peanuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Line plate or tray with waxed paper or plastic wrap.
2. Scoop out about 1 tablespoon of the cheese food, and roll into a ball. Repeat with remaining cheese until you wind up with about 12 balls.
3. Refrigerate for 15 minutes on prepared plate.
4. With a toothpick, draw ridges around the balls to resemble pumpkins. Dip the bottoms of the pumpkins in the peanuts (to resemble dirt).
5. Just before serving, place a couple of parsley leaves on the top of each pumpkin and insert a broken pretzel piece for each stem.
6. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Reviews

[Kitty Kat Cook]

I actually have the betty Crocker book where this recipe was printed. These are the cutest things! I'm not a fan of cheese but I served these at my party and my guests were impressed. I had fun making them, I served them with crackers.

[SashasMommy]

I used mini Babybel cheddar cheese for this... they are expensive, but I didn't need that many. They are already almost round... I let them sit on the counter for about 20 minutes and then kneaded them in my hands until they were malleable enough to roll into balls. I didn't feel like buying a whole bag of pretzels since we don't eat them, so I cut up some almonds we had laying around and used those for stems.

[Starrynews]

Very cute! I used sharp cheddar and diced cashews, as I had the cashews on hand. The cheese I picked up was very hard to work with (very sticky- couldn't roll with my hand or on a cutting board and even when I tried scooping with a teaspoon, it stuck to the inside of the teaspoon and had to be pried out with a toothpick), so next time I will try a different brand. Yummy nonetheless! Thanks for posting.