Spooky Spider Cheese Ball

This is an American-inspired Halloween snack built from a seasoned cream cheese and cheddar mixture shaped into a spider, then finished with olive legs and a pepper body. It is served with crackers and pretzels for scooping and crunch.

By Julienne

Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 452 g cream cheese softened
• 113 g sharp cheddar cheese finely shredded
• 30 g sour cream
• 15 g green onion thinly sliced
• 8 g fresh parsley finely chopped
• 5 ml Worcestershire sauce
• 2 g garlic powder
• 2 g onion powder
• 1 g black pepper freshly ground
• 2 g fine salt
• 60 g black olives pitted, one olive sliced for legs and body decoration
• 160 g crackers for serving
• 80 g pretzels for serving

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine the softened cream cheese, shredded cheddar, sour cream, green onion, parsley, Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and salt. Mix until evenly blended and the herbs are distributed throughout. The mixture looks uniform, thick, and spreadable with no dry pockets of seasoning.
2. Transfer the mixture to a sheet of plastic wrap and shape it into a rounded spider body, about 10 cm wide. Wrap and chill briefly in the refrigerator if the mixture feels too soft to hold shape; if needed, shape it directly on the serving platter. The cheese holds together as a mound with a clear spider-body shape.
3. Place the shaped cheese ball on a serving platter. Press one olive onto the front or top for the spider head/body detail, then slice the remaining olives into strips and arrange them as eight legs, four on each side. The platter clearly reads as a spider, with visible olive legs and a defined body.
4. Arrange the crackers and pretzels around the spider cheese ball and serve immediately, or cover and chill until ready to serve. Let it sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving if chilled. The dipper platter is full and the cheese ball is sliceable or spreadable.