PUMPKIN CHEESE BALL
By Brenda Storch, Messianic Rebbetzin of The Tabernacle
This adorable cheese ball gets its pumpkin-orange coloring from ground-up cheese puffs and the stem is cleverly stolen from a bell pepper.
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
PREPARATION
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.
