RITZ Crackers Christmas Snacks – Chocolate Peanut Butter Rudolph, Cheese and Olive Snowman, and Pesto Chicken Salad Wreath

Have some holiday fun by crafting these RITZ Crackers Christmas Snacks: a Chocolate Peanut Butter Cracker Rudolph, a cool Cheese and Olive Cracker Snowman, and a savory Pesto Chicken Salad Cracker Wreath. This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #HolidayRITZ #CollectiveBias

Do you love decorating your house and making festive food at the holidays so you can entertain your family and friends? Are you looking for some fun ways to dress up your appetizers and desserts this Christmas? Well, I have some crazy cute and simple ideas for you today.

I was inspired by a little beaded key chain that a friend’s daughter gave to me for Christmas. She made it herself and was so proud of her handiwork. As I looked at how the individual beads were lined up and strung together to create a simple animal shape, my mind went straight to food, as it usually does. I knew I could use simple bead patterns to create festive party food. I just needed something round to work with and RITZ Crackers were a perfect fit.

Using inspiration from some bead patterns I found online, I designed some edible snacks in the shape of Rudolph, a Snowman, and a Wreath all using RITZ Crackers as the foundation.

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Each of these RITZ Crackers Christmas Snacks was so fun to make. The Rudolph is made with peanut butter filled cracker sandwiches. Some are dipped in chocolate to make the reindeer’s head. The antlers are left plain.

The snowman is topped with a Roasted Garlic Parmesan Spread that I absolutely love. I used it years ago when I made some Cheese Ball Wedding Cakes and knew it would be a perfect topping for a RITZ Crackers. To make the hat I whipped up some black olive spread. Both dips are simple to create but you can skip the step and buy something in the deli if you don’t have a lot of time.

The pesto chicken salad topped wreath is the simplest of the designs and the recipe is super easy too. Just mix chicken with pesto and mayo and you’ve got yourself a tasty cracker topping that’s green enough to make a pretty wreath.

Check out this video tutorial to see how you can make each of these fun Christmas snacks yourself.

Aren’t they cute?  Do they look doable to you?

The reindeer requires the most work but you can take a shortcut if you’d like. Simply top some crackers with your favorite chocolate spread if you don’t want to dip your crackers in chocolate. You’d get the same effect with a bit less effort.

You know me, I don’t mind a bit of effort if I can create something that will really make an impact on my party guests.

Don’t you just want to run out and get some RITZ Crackers so you can make these for your Christmas party?

If so, you might want to check this out. Click the image below to earn up to 50 cents when you purchase one box of RITZ Crackers using ibotta.

When I set up my party spread the main focus was on these festive snacks. They are so fun and colorful that you really don’t need a lot of fancy decorations to dress up your table. I used my glass dining room table and just allowed the light gray carpet to be the backdrop.

I decorated a tiny Christmas tree for the centerpiece, added some more trays of homemade sweets, had a few plates of RITZ Crackers served alongside the leftover pesto chicken salad, roasted garlic Parmesan cheese spread, and the olive spread, added some holiday napkins and tableware and my tablescape was complete.

The cracker displays are quite large, so I used some 15 inch by 18 inch sheets of Lucite that I had on hand to hold the Rudolph and the snowman. I simply slipped some poster board under each to make the design pop. You can arrange your cracker displays on a cutting board or a large platter.

They take up quite a bit of room so as you lay out your table make sure you have enough space.

The individual crackers are not attached to the board in any way so that your party guests can simply pull one or more pieces to place on their plates. This is wonderful for your guests, but can make moving your creations a bit tricky. You may want to create your designs with your display pieces in place so you don’t have to move them. I didn’t. I made them in my kitchen and moved them to the dining room with no trouble. I just walked slowly.

Imagine the designs you can make using this idea. I can’t wait to make more.

For now, let’s see how to make the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cracker Rudolph, the Cheese and Olive Spread RITZ Crackers Snowman and the Pesto Chicken Salad Wreath.

The video above offers a great step-by-step tutorial for all three of the Christmas recipes. Below, I’ve shared some pictures of the Rudolph and Snowman.  I think the Chicken Pesto Wreath is pretty easy, so I just shared the recipe with you.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cracker Rudolph

 

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Chocolate dipped peanut butter cracker sandwiches arranged and decorated to look like Rudolph.

Created by: Beth Jackson Klosterboer

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 72 RITZ Crackers
• 16 ounces melted and tempered pure milk chocolate (or melted candy melts)*
• 2 ounces homemade red candy clay*
• 1 ounce homemade white candy clay*
• 1/2 ounce black candy clay*

*See the Hungry Happenings Chocolate Making tips page for detailed instructions on melting (and tempering) chocolate or candy melts and for the Candy Clay recipe.

Instructions

1. Spread a thin layer of creamy peanut butter on half of the RITZ Crackers.
2. Sandwich two crackers together.
3. Set aside 10 of the cracker sandwiches to use for Rudolph's antlers.
4. Dip the remaining cracker sandwiches in chocolate and chill until set. Use the refrigerator if using pure chocolate and the freezer if using candy melts.
5. Create a column of 6 chocolate dipped RITZ Crackers down the center of your serving platter.
6. Arrange 1 column of 6 chocolate dipped crackers on either side of the middle column.
7. Then arrange one column of 4 chocolate dipped crackers on either side of those so that the top and bottom rows have three chocolate dipped crackers in them.
8. Arrange three of the plain peanut butter crackers above column number 2 and again above column number 4 then arrange two crackers on either side to finish the antlers.
9. Roll out the three colors of candy clay to about 1/16th inch thickness.
10. Cut two white circles using a 2 1/4 inch round cookie cutter or knife.
11. Cut two black circles using a 1 1/4 inch round cookie cutter or knife.
12. Cut one red circle using a 3 inch round cookie cutter or knife.
13. Brush a bit of water on the back side of a black circle and press it onto a white circle creating one eye. Repeat.
14. Set the red nose and two eyes on the chocolate dipped crackers creating Rudolph's eyes and nose.

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Cheese and Olive RITZ Crackers Snowman

 

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Cute snowman snack created using cheese and olive spread RITZ Crackers.

Created by: Beth Jackson Klosterboer

Recipe type: Appetizer

Ingredients

Roasted Garlic Parmesan Cheese Spread

• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 cloves roasted garlic
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1/4 cup roasted almond slivers
• pinch of salt

Olive Spread

• 1 cup black olives
• 2 cloves roasted garlic
• 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon dried Oregano
• pinch salt

Snowman

• 32 RITZ Crackers
• 1 carrot

Instructions

Roasted Garlic Parmesan Cheese Spread

1. Combine cream cheese, garlic, Parmesan cheese, almonds, and salt in the bowl of a food processor.
2. Pulse until smooth.
3. If you don't have a food processor, finely chop the nuts and mince the garlic then stir all the ingredients together.

Olive Spread

1. Combine black olives, garlic, and olive oil in a bowl of a food processor and pulse until the olives are well chopped.
2. Add the cheese and pulse until somewhat smooth.
3. Season with salt to taste.

Snowman

1. Top 19 of the crackers with the cheese spread and the remaining crackers with the olive spread.
2. Arrange 1 row of three cheese topped crackers at the bottom edge of your serving platter.
3. Arrange a row of 4 on top of the first row placing the middle two crackers in between the bottom three.
4. Then add a row of 5, then a row of 4, then a row of 3.
5. Add a row of 5 olive topped crackers in a straight row above the row of 3 cheese topped crackers forming the brim of the snowman's hat.
6. Arrange two more rows of three olive topped crackers above the brim forming the hat.
7. Use the remaining two olive topped crackers for the snowman's eyes then add a carrot nose.
8. Serve any remaining cheese or olive spread with more RITZ Crackers.

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Pesto Chicken Salad RITZ Crackers Wreath

 

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Green pesto chicken salad spread over crackers are arranged to look like a wreath.

Created by: Beth Jackson Klosterboer

Recipe type: Appetizer

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups diced chicken breast
• 3 tablespoons basil pesto
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 13 RITZ Crackers
• 1 small red pepper

Instructions

1. Mix together the chicken, pesto, and mayo.
2. If desired, season with salt and pepper.
3. Spoon some chicken salad on each cracker.
4. Arrange in a big circle.
5. Cut one pepper into two ovals and two strips.
6. Arrange to look like a bow on the top of the wreath.
7. Serve any remaining chicken salad with more crackers or make the wreath bigger.

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These snacks were as fun to make as they were to serve. If you are excited to make these for your Christmas party you can find everything you need at Walmart. I found a huge display in the aisle in the grocery section.

If you were to make one of these RITZ Crackers Christmas Snacks, which would it be?

Be sure to check out all my fun Christmas Recipes!