Zombie Brains Cheese Ball

I have very nice friends who don't seem to mind that every time I bring food to a party I'm going to make something that I want to blog hahaha. So even though it was NOT a Halloween party I brought this zombie brains cheese ball to Ronda's party so I could try it out...and no one even blinked.

This is quite easy to do and tastes yummy (once you get past the way it looks that is!). It's a pesto flavored cheese ball topped with squiggly "brains" made from feta and cream cheese, surrounded by sun-dried tomato sauce. Even if you don't want it "zombie" themed this is a very good combo, just spread the topping on instead of making it look brain- like!

Ingredients:

• 2 pkgs (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
• 1 pkg (3.5 oz.) crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup Classico Traditional Basil Pesto Sauce
• 2 T. toasted pine nuts
• 1/2 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 T. balsamic vinegar
• crackers for serving

Directions  - see my note after about the feta mixture:

1. In a food processor, blend 1 pkg. of cream cheese and the feta until smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary. Spoon into a plastic baggie and refrigerate. 
2. Add the remaining 1 pkg. cream cheese, parmesan, and pesto sauce to the food processor and process until well blended. Add the toasted pine nuts and pulse several times to mix. Place the mixture into a piece of plastic wrap and shape into a ball, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, water, olive oil and balsamic vinegar to the food processor and process until smooth. Set aside.
4. Unwrap the pesto ball and turn onto a plate. Gently shape into an oval. Cut the tip off one corner of the feta mixture baggie and pipe onto the pesto ball in a twisting brain-like pattern. Spoon the sun-dried tomato sauce around the cheese ball and serve with crackers. 

note: I put the feta mixture in a baggie and into the fridge like they said but two things - 1) it was too firm after chilling it to squeeze out of the baggie and 2) I couldn't control the squiggles like I wanted to using the plastic bag. So I let the mixture set out to warm up a bit and then put it into a decorator bag with a big circle tip so I could make the "brains" look better.

original recipe found here. 



one year ago: baked crab cakes
two years ago: Halloween spider soap