Sincere Pumpkin Patch Spicy Cheese Ball

Extra sharp cheddar and cream cheese can be flavored with a variety of herbs and spices and rolled up ball- or log-shaped for a savory appetizer that will be a welcome addition to any party table. For added interest, roll your cheese ball in chopped pecans or walnuts.

If you’ve been reading along for a while, you might have noticed something.  I didn’t have a single Halloween post until last week’s Muffin Monday.  It’s not that I don’t enjoy Halloween.  In fact, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, when my girls were little, I was chief organizer and instigator of Halloween celebrations in our little neighborhood in the small oilfield town of Macaé, Brazil.

When we lived in Kuala Lumpur, we took part in trick-or-treating by joining another neighborhood’s festivities since no one went door-to-door in our mostly local area.  We parked on the route, decorated the trunk of our car and gave out candy.  But since the girls left home for university and I started the blog, my Halloween decorating and baking has dropped off significantly, although I still join my friends to give out candy if I happen to be in KL for Halloween.  It’s such fun to see the children in costumes.

Trunk-or-Treat - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia circa 2010

This week’s Sunday Supper theme is Halloween Finger Foods and since I don’t have little ones at home, I decided to go savory instead of sweet by making a spicy cheese ball that would be a great addition to any Halloween party table.  Goodness knows there will be enough candy already.

Like Linus from the comic strip Peanuts, I like to think that the Great Pumpkin will come to the most sincere pumpkin patch (or buffet table) and bring gifts for everyone.  He might even be tempted by this cheese ball.  It is most sincerely cheesy.

Ingredients
13 1/4 oz or 375g extra-sharp orange cheddar cheese
8 oz or about 225g cream cheese, at room temperature
1 small bunch chives (Mine was about 1/2 oz or 15g)
1 jalapeño (Mine was about 3/4 oz or 20g)
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon smoked paprika plus extra for decorating, if desired
2 tablespoons plain yogurt

For decoration: One broccoli stalk - with leaves, if possible
To serve: Crackers of your choice or bread

Method
Grate your cheddar cheese into a large mixing bowl. Finely mince your chives and garlic. Cut the stem end off of the jalapeño and remove the seeds, if you want to add just a little spice. If you like spicy food, by all means, leave the seeds in. Mince the jalapeño finely.

Add the softened cream cheese, the chives, garlic, jalapeño, smoked paprika and plain yogurt to the cheddar cheese.

Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Line a small round bowl with cling film and heap the cheese mixture in it.  Press down with a spatula so the cheese fills the bottom of the lined bowl completely. Cover with the cling film and round out the top with your hands.  It’s like playing with Play-Do again.

Set the covered cheese ball in the refrigerator for several hours so it will stiffen back up.  I ended up leaving mine overnight because I got busy with other projects.

Remove the cheese ball from the bowl but leave it covered with the cling film.  Press the ball into a pumpkin-like shape.  Remember that pumpkins come in all shapes and sizes so don’t get too hung up on complete roundness or perfection.

Use your thumb to make grooves in the ball from top to bottom.

When you are satisfied that it looks like the best pumpkin you can manage, unwrap the cling film and use a soft paint brush to brush a little smoked paprika in the grooves to enhance the look.

Cut the stem off your broccoli, keeping a couple of leaves attached, if possible.  Cut what will be the top of your pumpkin stem at an angle.  Set the stem on top of your cheese pumpkin ball and push it in just a little.   Is that not the cutest thing!?

Serve with crackers or bread, and don’t forget to put out a knife so that folks can cut a piece off and spread the cheese ball.

Enjoy!


Still wondering what to make for your Halloween party? Sunday Supper is here to help with a great list of finger food recipes!

Spooky Snacks and Starters

• Cheesy Ghost Chains by Cindy’s Recipes and Writings
• Cobweb Eggs by Culinary Adventures with Camilla
• Ghouly Pumpkin Butter Biscuits by Our Good Life
• Pumpkin Energy Bites by Caroline’s Cooking
• Spooky Pizza Bites by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sincere Pumpkin Patch Spicy Cheese Ball by Food Lust People Love
• Spooky Snack Mix by Pies and Plots
• Vampire Blood Soup with Monster Grilled Cheese Sandwiches by My Imperfect Kitchen
• Zombie Fingers (Bacon Wrapped Dates) by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures

Tasty Trick-or-Treats

• Bloody Eyeball Brownies by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
• Candy Corn Cookies by The Freshman Cook
• Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bites by Hardly A Goddess
• Halloween Chocolate Bark by Life Tastes Good
• Homemade Almond Joy Candy Bars by Bites of Wellness
• Matcha Monster Rice Krispies by NinjaBaker.com
• Mini Frankenstein Cheesecakes by Sunday Supper Movement
• Warm Caramel Apple Dip by Palatable Pastime
• Witches Fingers Cookies by That Skinny Chick Can Bake

Pin it! 

 .

Pumpkin Cookie Bars

Cookie bars to celebrate Halloween in the chewiest and sweetest of ways should include pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices, along with a good helping of white chocolate candy corn M&Ms. Substitute white chocolate chips for a solely Autumnal treat, sans the spooky.

Some of the hardest things to come by outside of the United States are the wonderful large pumpkins we use for Jack O’lanterns. Or if importers do bring them in, you have to give the shop an arm and two legs just to take one home. Right now in my local supermarket, Spinneys, there is a large pile of gorgeous pumpkins with price tags between 50 and 100 DOLLARS each. Isn’t that crazy? I must admit that there have been times that I’ve paid exorbitant prices – in Singapore, for instance – but then I still had girls at home and can one really put a price on passing cultural traditions on to one’s offspring? I didn’t feel like I was just paying for pumpkins but for a visual representation and demonstration of their heritage. Don’t mind me as I justify a ridiculous expenditure, but I promise not to judge whatever stupid thing you spend your money on.  Plus, who doesn’t love to carve a pumpkin?

Anyhoo, this year, I decided to forgo the whole pumpkins and just stock up on the canned stuff. I love the moisture that canned pumpkin adds to baked goods and knew that my Halloween cookies for this month’s Creative Cookie Exchange needed to have pumpkin. And some Halloween candy.

If you are planning your Halloween party and need some great cookie ideas, you’ve come to the right place. Make sure to scroll down after the recipe to see the links for all the Halloween cookies we are sharing today.

Ingredients
3/4 cup or 170g butter, softened
1 cup or 200g sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 15oz can or almost 1 cup or 215g canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 cup or 200g white chocolate candy corn M&Ms (You can substitute regular M&Ms or chocolate chips.)

To decorate:
Reserved M&Ms
Several pieces candy corn - optional

Cream cheese icing:
1/2 cup or 100g cream cheese
1/2 cup or 65g powdered sugar
2 teaspoons milk

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your baking pan by spraying it with non-stick spray or lining it with parchment. My pan is about 9x13in or 23x33cm.

Mix the flour together with the salt and spices in a small mixing bowl and set aside.

Use your stand mixer or electric beaters to cream together the softened butter and sugar.

Add in the pumpkin puree, vanilla and flour mixture and beat until well combined, scraping down the sides occasionally. This takes just a couple of minutes.

Set aside a handful of the white chocolate candy corn M&Ms to decorate the top and fold the rest into the dough.

Scoop the dough out of the mixing bowl and into your prepared pan and spread it out evenly.

This stuff is thick and sticky so you might need to wet or oil your hands and use them to get it into all the corners and relatively even.

Top the dough with the reserved M&Ms and a few candy corn candies if you have some on hand.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cookie bars are just cooked and golden around the edges.

Meanwhile, you can be making the cream cheese icing. Soften the cream cheese with a few zaps in the microwave and give it a good stir.

Put it in a mixing bowl with the powdered sugar and stir until it is well combined. Add the milk one teaspoon at a time, stirring well in between.

Once the cookies are done, remove them from the oven and allow to cool. Cut them into squares and transfer to your serving platter.

Use a piping tip and bag to decorate the cookies. I wanted an offset spider web so I followed this plate-decorating tutorial on the web. Very helpful! If you only make the spider web, you are going to have plenty of cream cheese icing leftover. You can serve it on the side, or pop it in a airtight bag and freeze it.

Enjoy!

The Creative Cookie Exchange theme this month is Halloween! Spooky, silly, creepy, we’ve got it all! If you are looking for Halloween inspiration to get in the kitchen and start baking, check out what all of the hosting bloggers have made:

• Enchanted Pumpkin Cookies from Kim at NinjaBaking
• French Butter Cookie (Bones) from Jill at Made with Love 
• Headless Gingerbread Men from Tara at Noshing with the Nolands 
• Pumpkin Chip Bars from Sarah at What Smells So Good? 
• Pumpkin Cookie Bars from Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Pumpkin Macarons from Holly at A Baker’s House 
• Spider Infested Chocolate Chip Cookies from Laura at The Spiced Life 
• Spider Peanut Butter Cookies from Sophie at Sweet Cinnamon & Honey 
• Spooky Almond Cookies from Kathya at Basic N Delicious
• Swirly Halloween Cookies from Heather at Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks 
• The Witch's Cauldron Cookies from Miranda at Cookie Dough & Oven Mitt 
• Witch Finger Cookies from Karen at Karen’s Kitchen Stories 

If you are a blogger and want to join in the fun, contact Laura at thespicedlife AT gmail DOT com and she will get you added to our Facebook group, where we discuss our cookies and share links.

You can also just use us as a great resource for cookie recipes - Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts. You can find all of them here at The Spiced Life). We all post together on the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

Triple Booberry Muffins #MuffinMonday

I love flavoring muffins with jams and fruity yogurts because I almost always have both on hand.  This recipe is easily changed to suit whatever is in your cupboard or refrigerator, with or without the addition of extra fruit. 

A couple of weeks back, I made a normal blueberry muffin.  Some cinnamon, a beige batter, a dusting of powdered sugar – simple but lovely.  This week, with our ingredient of choice actually being blueberries, I knew I had to kick it up a notch or two.  Make it the blueberriest possible.  So, I stirred in some blueberry jam, blueberry yogurt and whole blueberries.  Which left me with a distinctly purple batter.  As I browsed through my embarrassingly large collection of paper muffin cups, the Halloween ones seemed like the perfect match.

It's a sickness, people! Send help!  (Or more muffin cups, as the spirit moves you.)

So then I had to change the name from Blueberriest Muffins to Triple Booberry Muffins.  Yeah, I know.  Corny.  But if you are looking for a relatively healthy addition to your Halloween party table, these babies are it!

Ingredients
For the muffin batter:
2 cups or 250g flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1/2 cup or about 120g blueberry yogurt
1/2 cup or about 150g blueberry jam (Mine was “no sugar added” – if your jam is really sweet, you can adjust the amount of sugar or you may like a sweeter muffin – up to you)
1/3 cup or 80ml canola oil
1/2 cup or about 65g fresh or frozen blueberries

For the glaze: 1/4 cup or 75g blueberry jam (optional)

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 12-cup muffin tin by greasing it or lining it with muffin papers.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

In another smaller bowl, whisk together your eggs, blueberry yogurt, blueberry jam and oil.

Pour your wet mixture into the dry ingredients and stir until they are just combined.  There should be some dry flour still showing.

Check out that deep purple! 

Fold in the whole blueberries.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups.

Okay, so it's not a pretty color - but the taste! Blueberrilicious!

Bake for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.  It’s hard to see when a purplish blue muffin is golden so the toothpick test is best.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Remove the muffins from the pan and cool further on a wire rack.

If you want to glaze them, stir your extra jam around to loosen it a little bit and then brush it on your muffins while they are still slightly warm.

Enjoy!