Super Cute Turkey Cheese Ball
Is it Too Cute to Eat?
No. It is not too cute to eat. It’s too delicious to go to waste. Pepé and I always have to be the first to dig in and put some of this yummy turkey cheese ball on a cracker. People may not want to be the first one to take a knife to it, but, once they taste it, they will gobble it up! It may look like it takes a lot of time, but I timed myself putting those almond slivers on, and it was only 5 minutes. The hardest part is the tail feathers, but it’s really not complicated and the cheese ball is chilling anyway, so you have time. You can always skip that part and just use pretzel sticks for the tail feathers if you want, but it won’t be as cute. Seriously, people will be impressed, but you don’t have to tell them it was really easy. Let them think you spent all day on it. LOL
Step by Step Instructions
Mix 8 ounces cream cheese, 4 ounces blue cheese crumbles and the 5 ounce jar of cheddar cheese spread. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
While that’s going on you can create the tail feathers. Don’t do this too far in advance, the crackers will get soggy and fall over. An hour or two is plenty. You can do the rest days in advance. Mix 1/4 cup cream cheese with orange gel food coloring until you achieve the color desired and thin with a tiny amount of water to make it about the consistency of toothpaste or slightly thicker.
Place orange colored cheese mixture in a plastic bag or piping bag, snip a very tiny end of one corner of the bag. Pipe orange part onto 4 crackers first. (It’s best to actually pipe it onto a few spare crackers just in case any are not up to your satisfaction, or in case one falls onto the floor).
Cut a much larger corner from the bag and squeeze the remaining dyed cheese back into the bowl. Add red gel coloring to the cheese and repeat the previous process with the brown gel food coloring until you’ve piped on all three colors. It’s nice to start with the orange, so you don’t have to have 3 separate amounts in three separate bowls.
Next, cut a sliver out of a red bell pepper that will become the head and neck of the turkey. 
After the ball is done chilling, take it out of the fridge, place it in the center of your serving platter (making sure you have room for your crackers), smooth it out if necessary and start adding the almond slivers as shown above.
Attach the red bell pepper to the cheese ball and pipe small dots onto the pepper for eyes. Insert the tail feathers into the back of the ball as seen in photo) and arrange crackers around the turkey cheese ball. I personally like these “Keebler Flip Side” crackers because the pretzel side that I pipe cheese onto for the tail feathers, stays crispy longer than the cracker side.
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 1 hour |
| Servings |
pound Ball
|
- 8 Ounces Cream Cheese
- 1/4 Cup Cream Cheese (optional for piping tail feathers)
- 4 Ounces Blue Cheese Crumbles
- 5 Ounces Kraft Old English Cheddar Cheese Spread
- 1/4 Cups Almond Slivers
- 1 Red Bell Pepper (for the head and neck)
- Gel Food Coloring (orange, red, brown)
- Oval Crackers for tail feathers and for serving
Ingredients
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|
- Mix 8 ounces cream cheese, 4 ounces blue cheese crumbles and the 5 ounce jar of cheddar cheese spread. Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- While that’s going on you can create the tail feathers. Don't do this too far in advance, the crackers will get soggy and fall over. An hour or two is plenty. You can do the rest days in advance. Mix 1/4 cup cream cheese with orange gel food coloring until you achieve the color desired and thin with a tiny amount of water to make it about the consistency of toothpaste or slightly thicker.
- Place orange colored cheese mixture in a plastic bag or piping bag, snip a very tiny end of one corner of the bag. Pipe orange part onto 4 crackers first. (It’s best to actually pipe it onto a few spare crackers just in case any are not up to your satisfaction, or one might fall onto the floor).
- Cut a much larger corner from the bag and squeeze the remaining dyed cheese back into the bowl. Add red gel coloring to the cheese and repeat the previous process until you’ve piped on all three colors. It’s nice to start with the orange, so you don’t have to have 3 separate amounts in three separate bowls.
- Next, cut a sliver out of a red bell pepper that will become the head and neck of the turkey.
- When ball is done chilling, take out of the fridge, place it in the center of your serving platter (making sure you have room for your crackers), smooth it out if necessary and start adding the almond slivers as shown above.
- Attach the red bell pepper to the cheese ball and pipe small dots onto the pepper for eyes. Insert the tail feathers into the back of the ball as seen in photo) and arrange crackers around the turkey cheese ball. I personally like these “Keebler Flip Side” crackers because the pretzel side that I pipe cheese onto for the tail feathers, stays crispy longer than the cracker side.