It's the Great Pumpkin!

No tricks for you today - just this fun little Halloween treat. 

The idea for these cute cheese pumpkins originated from a blog called That's So Michelle which features some really fun, easy and creative ideas and since Boy Toy and I were headed to a tailgate party I thought I'd borrow her idea.  It's things like this that have awarded me "Food Nerd" status because who, in their right mind, could show up to a party with just cheese and crackers when you can turn heads with this??

It's really simple to do.  All you need is a tub of cold-pack Cheddar cheese, some pretzel sticks, finely chopped nuts (I used pecans), a few sprigs of fresh parsley and crackers of your choice (I used Triscuits because they are sturdy). 

I used a small cookie scoop but you can also just use a tablespoon to portion out the cheese and roll it into a ball with your hands (my method yielded approximately 20 pumpkins).  Chill them for a bit afterwards to make them firm enough so you can work with them.  Using a toothpick or wooden skewer, score lines into your cheese pumpkins from top to bottom.  They don't have to be perfect as a real pumpkin is beautiful in its own rite with irregularities. 

Dip the bottom of the pumpkin into some finely chopped nuts of your choice and refrigerate them until serving time.  Just before serving, decorate with a broken pretzel stick "stem" and a piece of parsley for greenery.  You don't want to do this until just before serving because the pretzel stick becomes soft when it is refrigerated. 

Serve them atop a cracker for ease of handling, but keep in mind this is quite alot of cheese to eat in one bite or for one cracker.  Serve a basket of crackers alongside so your guests can spread some cheesy pumpkin cheer!

Visit That's So Michelle's rendition of the pumpkin cheese plate and check out some of her other totally cute and fabulous ideas.