Cream Cheese Igloo and Olive Penguins

The Blog Tech has a holiday party to go to today so I made him some food to take to it. One of the things I made is this cheese ball.  People always get such a kick out of these.

 Plus, they are really good though no one ever seems to want to be the first one to dig into it. Make the cheese ball 1 day ahead.  Then, remove it from the refrigerator, flip it over and frost it with cream cheese.  Here is the recipe for the cheese ball:

The recipe:

• 2 - 8 oz.packages cream cheese
• 1/2 cup chutney (Major Grey)
• 1/4 cup onion diced
• 1 tsp. granulated garlic
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 1/2 cup Colby cheese shredded
• 1/2 cup Monterrey Jack cheese shredded

directions

1. Mix together the cream cheese, chutney , onion, garlic, salt and pepper.
2. Fold in the Colby and Monterrey Jack cheeses.
3. Line a small bowl with plastic wrap and press the cheese into the bowl.
4. Chill overnight.
5. Turn the cheese mixture out onto a serving plate.
6. Spread cream cheese around the cheese ball and then cover the cheese in a layer of cream cheese too.
7. Score the cheese ball with a toothpick to resemble an igloo.

 Slice the front of a pitted black olive open and stuff it with cream cheese.  Smooth it to look like a tuxedo.  Slice a thin round of carrot, cut a wedge in it and place the stuffed olive on it.  Take another olive and cut a small slit in it and place the carrot wedge in it to look like a beak. Push a frilly toothpick through the head and down to the carrot feet to hold each penguin together.

A slice of carrot serves as the igloo's flag.  Place a few sprigs of rosemary on either side of the igloo's entrance.  I was out of rosemary so I used parsley instead.  I don't think The Blog Tech's friends will notice the difference.