This easy appetizer has a bit of a kick, but it’s a super cute appetizer from the outside! Try this easy pumpkin shaped cheese ball appetizer recipe for your next gathering!
Easy Pumpkin Shaped Cheese Ball Appetizer Recipe
Is anyone else a HUGE fan of appetizers? We love, love, love appetizers. The thing I love most is easy appetizers that come together quickly that I can continue to set out for my family to munch on while I’m getting dinner ready, or even simple appetizers that we can get a quick bite from after we get home from practices and in between meals. I imagine most would agree that it’s much better to have a homemade appetizer with some healthi-“er” ingredients in them than a big ‘ol bowl of Doritos. Although I’m the first to admit that a big ‘ol bowl of Doritos is all I need sometimes, too.
A friend recently had this pumpkin cheese ball at her Matilda Jane party (totally off topic, but Matilda Jane clothes go on sale on Zulily often here) and I wasn’t feeling up for pumpkin at the time so I didn’t try it. And thenI realzied later that it wasn’t pumpkin flavored but rather it was a veggie cheese flavor (gasp!) What in sam heck?! I was so excited about this adorable little recipe of hers I had to make my own – just with a kick. If you know me, I love a good kick in the flavor of an appetizer to get things started.
So, I set out to make my own pumpkin shaped cheese ball recipe for the festivities prior to the Friday night Homecoming football game in town. And, of course my husband and I devoured it that night and here and there all weekend until it was finito, gone, devoured, gone-dy! – YUM!
This is a super easy appetizer recipe where it’s literally dump and go, but you do need a couple hours advance notice if you want this appetizer in the shape of a pumpkin. Because you’ll need to put this easy cheese ball recipe in the fridge for about 2 hours to get it to shape up right. Or, really get the flavor kicked up a notch by letting it hang in the fridge overnight or all day. That’ll do, too!
Print Easy Pumpkin Shaped Cheese Ball Appetizer Recipe
Ingredients
8 oz. plain cream cheese, softened
1 8 oz tub jalapeno cream cheese (this is not too spicy but it does give a little kick)
One packet Hidden Valley Ranch Buttermilk Dry Ranch Mix
3 green onions sliced
1 red pepper finely diced (save that stem!)
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese divided into 1 cup and 1 cup
Directions:
Combine both cream cheeses
Mix in the ranch mix, diced red pepper, and one cup of shredded cheddar cheese
Once that’s mixed well, lay out some cling wrap. (This is my favorite tool EVER if your cling wrap always gets stuck and never tears off, like mine!!)
Sprinkle a cup of the cheese on the cling wrap – this is going to prevent the cheese ball from sticking to the cling wrap.
Place the cheese ball on the cling wrap and wrap it around.
Put this in the fridge for 2 hours to a day, or even overnight to let those flavors some together.
Take four large rubber bands and wrap them around the pumpkin one at a time, making the shape of a pumpkin
When the cheese ball has had enough time in the fridge, snip off the rubberbands, remove the cling wrap and serve with Ritz crackers, club crackers or even Triscuits. Yum!
Notes:
I serve this with a butter knife because the crackers can break when digging into the cheese ball and no one wants that, right?!
Inspired by The Country Cook