Halloween is just around the corner and even little ghouls and goblins get hungry, especially during all the Halloween preparation. Why not make a fun treat to get them in the mood for trick or treating and all the spooky fun ahead? This recipe is from Eric Akis’s newest book Everyone Can Cook for Celebrations and is fun to make with your kids!

Mini Cheese Ball Pumpkins

Preparation time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: None
Makes: 24–30 pumpkins

1 8 oz (250 gram) brick cream cheese, softened

1 cup grated cheddar cheese (250 mL)
1/4 cup very finely chopped red onion (60 mL)
1/4 cup walnut pieces, very finely chopped (60 mL)
2 tsp hot horseradish (10 mL)
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce (2 mL)
1/4 tsp salt, or to taste (1 mL)
1/2 cup finely crushed orange colored crackers (see Note) (125 mL)
24 pieces green bell pepper, each 1/2 inch (1 cm) long and 1/8 inch (3 mm) wide (24 pieces)

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the cream cheese in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until lightened. Mix in the cheddar cheese, onion, walnuts, horseradish, Worcestershire and salt. Lightly dampen your hands with cold water. Shape the cheese mixture into 3/4-inch (2 cm) balls and set on one of the baking sheets.

Place the cracker crumbs on a wide plate. Coat one of the cheese balls in the crumbs, gently pressing them on to help them adhere and shaping the ball so it has a nice round shape. Set the mini cheese ball on the clean baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining cheese balls. Gently push down in the center of each cheese ball to give it a pumpkin shape. Make a stem by inserting a piece of green pepper into the center of each cheese ball. Tent with plastic wrap and refrigerate the cheese balls at least 2 hours before serving. The cheese balls can be made up to a day in advance.

Note: The crackers I use for the orange crumb coating are a baked cheddar-flavored goldfish type snack cracker, but any crisp, orange-colored cracker would work. I crush the crackers in a food processor; 1 cup (250 mL) of these crackers, when crushed, yielded the crumbs I needed to coat the cheese balls.

Eric’s options: Instead of walnuts, flavor the cheese balls with pecan pieces. If you’re not a big fan of onion, reduce the amount of red onion by half.

Happy Halloween!