Mini Pumpkin Cheese Balls
Mini pumpkin cheese balls can be served at your Halloween party or Thanksgiving dinner. These bite-size cheese appetizers are easy to make and only take minutes to put together.
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese (chilled)
- 2 tablespoons red pesto
- 1.5 teaspoons paprika
- 12 crackers (i used Ritz crackers)
- 6 pretzel sticks (ends only)
- chives (optional, see note 4)
Instructions
- In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, red pesto and paprika. Mix well.
- Take a plate or chopping board and line it with aluminum foil or baking parchment.
- Take a small amount of the cream cheese mixture and roll it into a bite-size ball. It will be sticky but that’s OK. Place the ball onto the plate/chopping board and repeat until you have used all the cream cheese mixture. You should get 12 balls.
- Refrigerate for 3 hours. After 3 hours, take them out and place each cheese ball onto a Ritz cracker. Using your finger press down each ball so that they look more like pumpkins. Now, insert a little piece of a pretzel stick into each ball and decorate it with chives (I took a chive stem and split it in half (lengthwise) and again in half. It naturally curled up so I cut it smaller and stuck in the ball).
- Best served right away.
Notes
- You should get about 12 balls out of this recipe. Because they are bite-size appetizers I recommend rolling them small – to fit the Ritz crackers. About the size of a large cherry.
- The cream cheese mixture should not be too runny. If this is the case, add more cream cheese.
- If the pesto you bought contains a lot of oil, make sure to drain it (if possible – usually it stays on top of the jar) before you scoop out the amount you need for this recipe.
- The balls can be kept in the fridge for longer than 3 hours. Just make sure to add the pretzel sticks as well as the chives right before serving.
- Chives – you can use fresh flat-leaf parsley instead of chives.
Nutrition
Calories: 87 kcal (4%), Carbohydrates: 4 g (1%), Protein: 2 g (4%), Fat: 7 g (11%), Saturated Fat: 4 g (25%), Polyunsaturated Fat: 1 g, Monounsaturated Fat: 2 g, Trans Fat: 0.03 g, Cholesterol: 19 mg (6%), Sodium: 112 mg (5%), Potassium: 35 mg (1%), Fiber: 0.2 g (1%), Sugar: 1 g (1%), Vitamin A: 393 IU (8%), Vitamin C: 0.1 mg, Calcium: 26 mg (3%), Iron: 0.2 mg (1%)
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
