Cheese Slice Owl – A Fun Halloween Appetizer

Make a Cheese Slice Owl for your Halloween party or owl-themed event. They are so cute and so easy to make. This snack would even be great for a baby shower.

People often ask how I continue to come up with the ideas for my themed cuisine.  Well, I have begun to imagine how almost everything I see would look made out of food.

The other day I came across a craft project that I just fell in love with and I instantly visualized how I could create an edible version of it. Lynn Put over at The Queen’s Scene created adorable owl boxes for a Valentine’s Day craft.

I took one look at the box and knew I had to re-create it out of cheese slices. I know my mind works in mysterious ways. I’ve been developing recipes for our upcoming witch and wizard themed Halloween party, and owls fit the bill perfectly. I can’t wait for my guests to see my newest work of edible art.

While Lynn’s medium of choice is card stock and colorful paper, mine is Cheddar, American, Co-Jack, and Provolone cheeses along with two jumbo black olives.

Using Lynn’s owl as a guide, I was easily able to create my own version out of cheese. I always serve some sort of cheese at our parties and think this will be the most impressive cheese display I’ve ever served.

Usually, I just cut cheese slices into shapes using cookie cutters, which is fun, but not as exciting as this creation. I’ll be sure to make a few of these owls for our party.

I do find that the guests who arrive early worry about disturbing some of my works of art and I will want them to dig in and enjoy the cheese.

I’ll probably also make owl-shaped crackers using this recipe I used to make my Cackling Crackers..

 Cheese Slice Owls for Halloween (serves 6-10)

Ingredients:

3 slices American cheese
4 slices Co-Jack cheese
2 slices Sharp Cheddar cheese
1 slice Provolone Cheese
2 jumbo black olives

Special Equipment Needed:

knife or kitchen shears
round cookie cutters (1 1/2″, 2″, and 3″)
optional: small oval and tear drop cookie cutters

Instructions:

cut out cheese slices

• Use a knife or kitchen shears to cut a slight curve out of a slice of American cheese.
• Repeat with two more slices.
• Lay one slice with curve side down on your serving platter.
• Just above it lay two slices on top of each other with the curved side up.
• Cut two little ovals out of a slice of Cheddar cheese using a cookie cutter, knife, or kitchen shears and lay the ovals over the bottom curve to make the owl’s feet.
• Use a 1 1/2″ round cookie cutter to cut three circles out of Co-Jack cheese.
• Set them in a row just above the feet.

assemble the cheese slice owl

• Cut three more circles of Co-Jack cheese and set them in a row just above the first row of circles.
• Cut 8 more circles of Co-Jack cheese.
• Then cut each of the circles in half.
• Begin layering them, offsetting the rows as you go to form the owl’s feathers.
• Make four rows, with either three or four feathers.

• Cut a beak using a knife or a small teardrop cookie cutter.
• Set it just above the top layer of feathers.
• Use a 2″ round cookie cutter to cut two circles out of Provolone cheese.
• Set above and just over the top edge of the beak.
• Use a 3″ round cookie cutter to cut one circle out of Cheddar cheese.
• Cut the circle in half and attach at the sides of the owl for the wings.
• In order to get your olives to sit nicely on the cheese, cut off a slice on one side creating a flat surface.
• Set the olives on the Provolone cheese circles to create the pupils of the owl’s eyes.

Serve with crackers.

You can make this edible art up to a day ahead of your party.

Cover it tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate. I would suggest you add the olive eyes just before serving.

 

 

 

 

 

Be sure to check out all the Halloween recipes here on Hungry Happenings.