Tiny Pumpkin Cheese Bites
These Tiny Pumpkin Cheese Bites are a recipe and craft rolled into one, and are as tasty as they are adorable. They take a little prep time, but are totally worth it.
I found this recipe from Michale Wurm of Inspired by Charm, which is one of my favorite blogs. He has creative and beautiful ideas that are truly inspiring. So his blog is aptly named. Look for him on Instagram, too. He is fun to follow. (I also made his cute Halloween Treat Bags last year.)
It is a very basic cheese ball recipe – cheddar cheese, cream cheese, and roasted red peppers. Make sure the cream cheese is soft before you mix it with the cheddar. I used jarred roasted red peppers and mixed it all together with an electric mixer. Chill for at least an hour after mixing all of the ingredients together.
Using a cookie scoop or disher, scoop the cheese into small balls and round them out with your hands.
To scoop the cheese, I used my purple disher scoop, which is on the far right. It holds 3/4 of an ounce. I’ve mentioned before how much I like these scoops. They are a must have for any baker’s arsenal. I posted more information about these dishers with my recipe for Seriously Chocolate Cookies..
For the coatings I used Nacho Flavored Doritos, Kettle chips, and chopped pecans. The Doritos add a nice crunch, zesty flavor, and are the perfect shade of orange for a pumpkin. To crush them, place the Doritos in a large ziplock bag and crush with a rolling pin until they are fine crumbs. Do the same with the kettle potato chips.
Place your coatings in separate bowls for easy dipping.
Roll the cheese balls in the coatings until they are thoroughly covered.
If you use a small scoop it will make about 25.
Lightly press a toothpick into the side of each ball, going all around to resemble a pumpkin.
Then lightly press the toothpick across the top.
Place a halved pretzel stick, broken side down, into the cheese ball, carefully pulling in the cilantro (or parsley) leaf as you go. I recommend adding the pretzels just a couple of hours before serving because they will eventually get soft.
Aren’t these the cutest?
You can take these to a fall gathering or as an appetizer for your Thanksgiving spread.
Your guests will love them. You will too!
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Tiny Pumpkin Cheese Bites
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- cookie scoop or disher
- mixing bowl
- hand mixer
Ingredients
- 2 8 oz blocks cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
- 2-3 Tbsp roasted red pepper, chopped
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 15 pretzel sticks, broken in half
- 25 cilantro or parsley leaves
Instructions
- Combine ingredients in a medium bowl and mix well. Chill for at least an hour.
- Using a small scoop, shape mixture into tiny balls.
- Roll each in desired coatings.
- Using a toothpick, add ridges to the sides of each ball. (See photo in post)
- No more than 2 hours before serving, place the pretzel stick, broken end down, into the cheese ball and use the pretzel to help pull the cilantro leaf into the pumpkin.
