Midnight Jack (Smoky Cheddar Cheese Ball)

My 12 year old son, who doesn't like cheese on anything but pizza, opened the fridge the other day and said, "Mom, why is there nothing but cheese in here?" I started to laugh because he was right, there was a hell of a lot of cheese in there. I'd been working on a few recipe ideas and had to make them a few times to get it right. Also, I'd been online shopping and had a bunch of artisanal cheeses that didn't look like the usual suspects of mozzarella and cheddar. He was not happy. Needless to say, my laughter made him turn and walk out of the kitchen. 😉 

'Green' Reaper Platter 

Despite already blogging this gorgeous fruit and cheese plate and a whole refrigerator full of cheese, I was compelled to squeeze in one more cheese dish with these festive and fun Midnight Jacks. I made two variations, a traditional orange and black jack-o-lantern made with sharp cheddar and smoky paprika, and a green and black lack-o-lantern made with Gouda, and Spinach Pesto to match my green and black Halloween theme this year. 

Honestly, I wish I had thought of this Midnight Jack last year when my color theme was orange and black...but oh well, better late than never. The best thing about this easy recipe is that it's so versatile. Create any flavor combination or color combination desired to match your Halloween theme. Here are a few ideas to play around with.

Orange: sharp cheddar with smoked paprika.(recipe below)
Green: green Gouda with spinach and herbs (recipe below)
Purple/Pink:red wine cheese with beet powder or blackberry jam.
Blue: a white cheese with blueberry powder or jam.
Yellow: a white cheese with yellow curry, turmeric and spices
Black with Orange coating: add charcoal powder and garlic to the cheese mixture and roll in finely crushed cheese crackers or Cheetos®

Here's the Spinach and Pesto Cheese version. Didn't he turn out cute? Enjoy!

Midnight Jack (Smokey Cheddar Cheese Ball)

Makes ~2 cups

8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
1 clove garlic, grated
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/2 t. smoked paprika
1/2 t. reg. paprika (to intensify color)
1/2 t. dry mustard
1/2 t. ground coriander
1/4 t. white pepper
1-2 t. olive oil
1/4 cup poppy seeds
Vanilla bean pod for stem
Charcoal Crackers (link) 

In a food processor, blend cream cheese and grated garlic together until smooth. Add cheddar cheese and blend until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and process adding olive oil if cheese mixture is too dry. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.  Line a small 4 inch diameter bowl with plastic wrap and spoon in about half of the cheese mixture. Press cheese mixture into bottom of the small bowl making sure to remove gaps and air pockets. Add remaining cheese. Lift plastic wrap over cheese and twist molding a tight ball. Refrigerate overnight.

Cut jack-o-lantern faces out of parchment paper and position parchment paper cut outs onto one side of cheeseball, pressing gently to ensure parchment sticks to cheese. 

Pour poppy seeds into a shallow bowl or plate and roll cheese ball in poppy seeds.


  

To insure a sharp line of poppy seeds that outline the face of the jack-o-lantern, gently push poppy seeds around the edge of the parchment paper. and into the cheese. After cheese ball is completely covered, use tweezers to slowly remove the parchment to reveal the jack-o-lantern face. 

Add broken vanilla bean to the top of the cheeseball to create a stem for the Jack-o-lantern and serve with crackers.  

Midnight Jack (Spinach Pesto Cheese Ball): 

8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1 clove garlic, grated
2 cups Green Pesto Gouda (link)/Sage Derby Cheese (link)
1/4 cup basil leaves
1/4 cup fresh spinach (add more to enhance color)
1/4 t. white pepper
1 T olive oil
1/4 cup poppy seeds
bell pepper stem 
Charcoal Crackers (link) 

In a food processor, blend cream cheese and grated garlic together until smooth. Add gouda and derby cheeses and blend until smooth. Add remaining ingredients and process adding olive oil if cheese mixture is too dry. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.  Line a small 4 inch diameter bowl with plastic wrap and spoon in about half of the cheese mixture. Press cheese mixture into bottom of the small bowl making sure to remove gaps and air pockets. Add remaining cheese. Lift plastic wrap over cheese and twist molding a tight ball. Refrigerate overnight. 
Cut jack-o-lantern faces out of parchment paper and position onto side of cheese ball, pressing gently to ensure parchment sticks to cheese. Pour poppy seeds into a shallow bowl or plate and roll cheese ball in poppy seeds. To insure a sharp line of poppy seeds that outline the face of the jack-o-lantern, gently push poppy seeds around the edge of the parchment paper. After cheese ball is completely covered, use tweezers to slowly remove the parchment to reveal the jack-o-lantern face. Add bell pepper stem to the top of the cheeseball to create a stem for the Jack-o-lantern and serve with crackers.

More Halloween Recipes to try:

Bloody Eyeball Bruschetta

Jack-o-lantern Cupcakes

Spiderweb Eggs

The 'Green' Reaper Platter (Green & Black Fruit and Cheese Tray)

The last few years, I've used color as inspiration to guide my Halloween recipes and decorating ideas. Last year, was traditional Black and Orange. The year before, a sultry and elegant Violet. And the year before that, I went for sophisticated neutrals with black accents.  This Halloween season is all about the color Green!  I've already got started and blogged a few of my green ideas like these fun 'Let Nature Run its Corpse' Cakes and this dramatic Slithering Salad.

So this brings us to The 'Green' Reaper Platter!  My purple Abracadabra platter from two years ago (pictured below) continues to be very popular on Pinterest, so I decided to make another platter featuring the color green and black.
First, I needed to find some showstopping cheeses to anchor my cheese board. And thankfully with all this 'Stay at Home' going on here in California, I've been doing a lot of on-line shopping and discovered this Green Pesto Gouda and  Sage Derby Cheese from igourmet.com. I ordered these two cheeses and the Spooky (Looking) Cheese Tray because the Spooky platter also came with these cool black charcoal crackers. It also came with a beautiful purple swirled cheese that would've been perfect for my Abracadabra platter and a layered orange cheese that would've been great last year, if I had done a cheese platter last year, maybe I still will? Anyway, I got my order 3 days later and got straight to work throwing together this gorgeous green and black themed platter. 

As for the name... the green being an obvious pun, but there's a cute back story why I named it 'The Green Reaper Platter'. When my oldest son, Jackson was around 5 or 6 years old, he loved to play with a hanging grim reaper Halloween decoration. He loved to go by it and clap his hands and it would shake and make eerie sounds. He loved it but didn't know what it was called so I told him that it's a grim reaper. He seemed to take the name in stride and didn't ask any questions about it. A few days later he kept talking about the green whopper this and the green whopper that. My husband and I were so confused we couldn't figure out what he was talking about. We asked, "What's the green whopper, Jackson?" He went over to the hanging decoration and pointed to it, "The Green Whopper". We laughed so hard and even to this day, the Grim Reaper will always be the Green Whopper.  💗

The 'Green' Reaper Platter (Green & Black Fruit and Cheese Tray)

Cheeses
Green Pesto Gouda  (link)
Sage Derby Cheese by Thistle Hill (link)

     Fruit                                 Veggies
Blackberries                           Broccoli
Black grapes                         Cucumbers
Green grapes                    Green cauliflower
Green apples                           Celery
Dried Mission Figs

     Nuts                    Assorted Crackers
Pistachios               Charcoal Crackers (link)
Pumpkin seeds          Spinach Kale Thins
Wasabi peas            or Multigrain crackers
         

         Sauces
Fig Balsamic Dressing (bottled)

Guacamole Hummus (homemade)
Makes ~1 1/2 cups

1 cup white beans
1 avocado
juice of one lime
1/4 cup cilantro leaves
1 T jalapeno
1- 1 1/2 t onion powder
2-3 T canola oil
salt and pepper (to taste)

Blend all ingredients together. until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

More Halloween recipes to try:

Abracadabra Platter

Antipasto De Los Muertos

Amputated Appetizer

Spider Caviar

Easy Halloween Kabobs

I'm on a roll with easy Halloween appetizers. Yesterday, I posted an easy recipe idea for Witchy Finger Food (Blistered Shishito Peppers with Sesame Soy Sauce) and today, these simple and festive Halloween Kabobs.  I'm rolling through Easytown this year because I missed my annual Summer of Halloween. If you're wondering what the heck is "Summer of Halloween"? It is the most wonderful time of the year for this gal who plans Halloween dishes all year. When everyone else is basking in the summer heat and splashing around in pools, I'm up to my eyeballs in Halloween projects, decorating and cooking up fun Halloween dishes. Unfortunately, a health issue kept me from my annual frenzy, but I'm all better now and back in the kitchen scrambling to get a few of my summer Halloween ideas together to share. 🎃 So, I'm picking ones that are quick and easy to put together and what could be simpler than fruit and veggie kabobs? 
Haha! Don't be a smart Alec....I heard you say, "a fruit and veggie tray!" 
Yes, a fruit and veggie tray would be simpler, but this platter is much more beautiful and way more fun to eat! Plus this yumminess comes with dipping sauces! The basic fruit tray doesn't come with dipping sauce... Imagine taking these beauties to a Halloween potluck!  Impress everyone with your melon balling and knife skills...It'll be so worth the extra effort to thread these onto fun picks.  By the way, if your'e wondering, I got these super cute and festive 5" Orange Skull picks online from Pick On Us.

I used traditional Orange and Black for this platter but feel free to use any color combination that screams Halloween to you.  Do all fruit kabobs, or all veggies, the choice is yours.  Happy Halloween!

Easy Halloween Kabobs

Black Fruits (Grapes, Blackberries, Figs)
White Fruit (Dragon fruit,Jicama, Guava, Lychee, Mangosteen)
Orange Fruit (Cantaloupe, Mango, Persimmon, Mandarin Orange) 

Black Olives
1 container Fresh Mozzarella balls (substitute with your favorite soft/semi-soft cheese, cubed)
1 container Orange Cherry Tomatoes

Mango Dipping Sauce
1 mango, peeled and pureed in a food processor.

Balsamic Glaze
1 cup balsamic vinegar, reduced to 1/3 cup
honey (to taste)

Over medium heat, reduce the balsamic vinegar to about 1/3 cup. Cool and add honey to taste.

5" orange skull picks from Pick On Us. 

Cut up desired fruits and thread onto picks or small skewers and serve with mango dipping sauce. Thread desired cheese, olives and tomatoes onto picks or small skewers and serve with balsamic glaze dipping sauce. 
Easy breezy! Enjoy!

Other Halloween recipes to try:

Abracadabra Platter (Purple Crudite and Cheese Tray)

Antipasto de los Muertos

Bloody Eyeball Bruschetta

Witchy Finger Food (Blistered Shishito Peppers with Sesame Soy Sauce)

So I made these deliciously gruesome morsels yesterday after a long hiatus from my kitchen. I had this particular idea in my head all summer and I finally got to toy around with it and it totally paid off!  Not only do these creepy digits look the Halloween part, they taste amazing, and they're really simple to make. 
OK, I'll admit that there is a little prep work in applying the almond fingernails, but you really don't have to add them if you don't want to go to all the trouble.  Shishito peppers already look like gnarly witches fingers all by themselves. But if you're looking for a bit of realism, add the sliced almond fingernails and give them a few minutes in the oven, the almonds will brown which adds to the festive look. Add these to your Halloween buffet to feed a crowd or include them in a Halloween Dinner as a side dish to my Midnight Sushi with Wasabi Skulls made with black rice. Enjoy! 

Witchy Finger Food (Blistered Shishito Peppers with Sesame Soy Sauce)

Serves 4-6

Sesame Soy Dipping Sauce
1/4 c. low sodium soy sauce
1 T toasted sesame oil
1 T garlic chili sauce
~Mix all ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

10-12 oz. Shishito peppers
Sliced Almonds
Black Sesame Seeds

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Cut off a small tip of the shishito pepper at an angle to make a small opening  for the fingernail. Place a sliced almond to create the witches fingernail. Don't worry if it doesn't fit well, once the peppers are roasted, they'll be softer and the fingernails can be re-positioned. Some will fall out during baking as well and will need to be put back in.   

Place peppers on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Baste peppers with a light coating of sesame soy dipping sauce. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Let cool slightly, sprinkle generously with black sesame seeds and serve with remaining dipping sauce.

 Check out this perfectly creepy blistered witchy finger...looks yucky, tastes yummy! 🎃

Have fun with your plating. I used a small cauldron bowl and placed it on a skeleton hand I got from the 99 last year. I added my old silver sugar cube tongs with super cool claws as my serving utensil. It definitely looks the part of a festive Halloween snack ready to be devoured!

These fingers would be great paired with way cool Midnight Sushi with Wasabi Skulls, made with black rice and Eye of the Beholder Fruit Salad for dessert .

Cranberry Bruschetta

Cranberry Sauce is the last of our Thanksgiving leftovers. Aside from topping leftover turkey sandwiches or riding shotgun to sliced turkey on Thanksgiving day. It's great on toast or muffins on post-holiday mornings. It's basically jam afterall. I decided to elevate the humble toast with jam to these easy and deliciously sweet Cranberry Bruschetta. 
Inspired by an old Pampered Chef recipe for Strawberry Bruschetta, I dug up my scalloped bread tube and baked up a loaf of this beautiful bread that was toasted crisp with butter and cinnamon sugar. I slathered it with a sweetened creamy mascarpone cheese generously flavored with lemon zest and then  topped with cinnamon cranberry sauce, more lemon zest, and finely minced rosemary. Perfect for a light breakfast or dessert!  Enjoy!

Cranberry Bruschetta

Makes ~20

french baguette, sliced*
butter
3 T cinnamon sugar
1 cup Mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
zest of 1 lemon and 1 T lemon juice
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 cup leftover homemade cranberry sauce 
1/4 t cinnamon
1/2 t fresh rosemary, finely minced (garnish)
lemon zest (garnish)


Butter baguette slices and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Place bread slices on cookie sheet and broil until toasted ~ 4minutes. Set aside to cool. 

*Note: I used my Pampered Chef Scalloped Bread Tube and 1 tube refrigerated pizza dough, baked 40-50 minutes at 350 degrees to bake up the scalloped bread slices pictured. 


Mix Mascarpone cheese, sifted powdered sugar and lemon zest and juice in a small bowl. Spread cinnamon toasts generously with mascarpone cheese spread.  Top cheese with 3-4 sliced almonds. 
Add 1/4 tsp cinnamon to left over cranberry sauce and top cheese toasts with about 1 tsp cranberry sauce. Garnish with more lemon zest and finely minced rosemary. 

Other recipes to try:

Cranberry Orange Buttermilk Cake

Blackberry Oatmeal Bars

Zucchini Bruschetta