Black Olive Owls

Turn ordinary olives into Black Olive Owls using orange cheese slices and bits of carrots for Halloween or a Harry Potter party. Fun food for kids. I created these Black Olive Owls featuring California Ripe Olives for Clever Girls Collective.

For years I’ve seen those cute penguins made out of black olives at parties and on-line, and felt it was finally time for me to try my hand at making an adorable olive animal. As I sat staring down into a can filled with California Ripe Olives, trying not to eat all of them before I made anything, it dawned on me that olives have a similar shape to owls and better yet many owls are covered in black feathers. I’m always happy when inspiration strikes without much effort.

I love using black olives to make my food art. They really are an ideal kid friendly ingredient and there are always a few cans of them in my pantry. They are one of the few black foods, so I reach for them often.

You can see how I used black olives to add texture and a pop of color into each of these savory dishes. I used them to make eyes and a nose on my Teddy Bear Taco Tart, really big eyes on my Cheese Slice Owl, eyes and hair on my Count Pizzala, tiny little eyes on my Mini Cheese Ball Chicks, and eyes, hair and even bolts on my Frankenstein’s Monster Taco Dip.I figured turning them into owls would be easy.

My first attempt at making olive owls wasn’t a total success, but it was educational. While working I realized I could make the owl’s horns (the feathers on the top of the head that look like ears, but are really neither horns nor ears,) by cutting slits in the olives and making the pointed piece of olive stand up straight. I also realized carrots made the perfect beaks and that cheese eyes and feet stuck really well using cream cheese as edible glue.

So, I started over, making larger glowing eyes, better looking feet, and putting my olive owls on lollipop sticks, just because that’s more fun, especially for kids.

These would make a great after school snack for kids, could be used as a festive appetizer at a Halloween party, or would make a fun treat to bring camping. So many possibilities.

Black Olive Owls

Ingredients and Supplies:

jumbo California Black Ripe Olives

1 wooden skewer (a lollipop stick would work as well)

cream cheese, softened

disposable pastry bag

paper straw or lollipop stick

carrot

American cheese slice

yellow food coloring
food use only paint brush
small round cutter about 5/8 inches

black food coloring

Instructions:

Start by draining your black olives really well. Pat the outside and inside dry, or allow them to sit and dry for a while. I actually dried the inside using a clean cotton swab.

My olives had an X cut into one end, so I used that to my advantage. I made the cut bigger on two sides, but instead of going at an angle I cut straight down forming a rectangle with a triangular top. Then I took the blunt end of a wooden skewer, pushed it up into the olive, and carefully lifted the cut pieces of olives up just enough so they looked like owl “horns” or “ears.”

Most olives will have slits, but if they don’t just cut them yourself.

Then put some softened cream cheese into a pastry bag, snip off the tip, and pipe it into the olive, filling it about 2/3 full.

Then insert a paper straw or lollipop stick.

Cut the carrot into thin slices, then cut triangular beaks out of each slice. Cut a slit into the front of the olive and slide one beak into it.

If you want glowing eyes, paint some yellow food coloring over the American Cheese Slice and allow it to dry then cut out small circles. Draw on the pupils using a black food coloring marker.

Cut the feet using a daisy plunger cutter. Then cut off three “petals” to form the feet.

Use a bit of cream cheese to attach the eyes and feet to the black olives.

It’s best to attach the cheese just before serving. I made these and kept them in the refrigerator for several days and the black food coloring bled a bit onto the yellow food coloring. So, I don’t recommend making the eyes or attaching them too early.

Before you go, you are gonna want to check this out:

California Ripe Olives is having a Back-to-School-Sweepstakes and they are giving away an Amazon Kindle Fire HDX. How cool is that? All you have to do to enter is Follow California Ripe Olives on Facebook, visit the custom tab, and enter once per day. Sweepstakes runs August 18 – September 12, 2014. Good luck.

Items used to create this project that are available on Amazon.com (commission earned for sales)

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

If you are looking for more festive Halloween food ideas, be sure to check out my Halloween category page. You’ll find over 100 fun and festive recipes for the holiday.

More Edible Crafts using Olives

from Hungry Happenings