Snowman Cheese Ball

If you’ve never made a cheese ball for a party, you will be shocked at how easy they are–some plain or flavored softened cream cheese mixed with onion powder, garlic powder, chives or green onions and some shredded cheddar, shaped into a ball and refrigerated and you have yourself a cheese ball. (Seriously.) The great thing is you can pretty much add whatever you want to that base–nuts, dried fruit, spinach, different cheeses, chopped salami…whatever your little heart desires.

Last year for our cookie decorating party, I made a snowman cheese ball after I saw a picture in a magazine. He was THE HIT of the party and the one thing that everyone talked about (not to mention he was pretty tasty and the boys had fun eating part of his head and inserting a piece of salami for the brain). By the end of the evening, poor Frosty was all gone, but we were sure happy.

Here are some tips for your own little snowman cheese ball:

1. Make three round cheese balls of varying sizes to “build” the snowman. Be sure the base is much larger. (There’s nothing worse than a toppled snowman cheese ball during a party.)  Wrap them in plastic food wrap and refrigerate overnight.

2. Right before your party, remove the cheese balls and “assemble” the snowman with the largest ball on the bottom, ending with the smallest on top as his head.

3. Here’s the secret key to a decorated snowman cheese ball: Purchase the whipped cream cheese in a container for the outside of the snowman. It will spread on smooth and look like packed snow on your snowman. (Tip: Buy the plain kind.) Spread the entire snowman cheese ball with the whipped cream cheese until he looks … snowy. You know, like a snowman.

4. Refrigerate until the outside is firm.

5. Now for the fun part–decorate your snowman! I used peppercorns for the eyes, mouth and buttons, but then you need to be careful that no one eats them. (I mean, yuck.) You could also use raisins or chopped up black olives. I then cut the green part of a green onion (scallion) and fashioned the scarf. I cut a tiny little nose out of, yes, a real carrot. Add some pretzel stick arms and voilà, you have yourself an edible centerpiece for your party.

 Unfortunately, the only picture I took was of the one after the boys performed the reverse lobotomy. When I make it this year, I’ll come back and post pictures.

If you make the snowman cheese ball, come back and post a link to the pictures so I can see it!

Tags: Christmas, food, holidays, snowman cheese ball

Category: Cool Stuff, Feature, Food, Recipes