My favourite animated movie ever is It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I love Halloween, which is really neither here nor there since I’ll be on a plane coming home from vacation on my favourite holiday and Mr. Baz’s birthday. But don’t worry, I plan to post a picture of him in costume anyway.
It’s no surprise then, that when tasked with making an appetizer for Thanksgiving dinner, which my own stepmom and dad made from scratch, only hours after arriving home jetlagged from their vacation abroad, that I decided to make these mini cheese ball pumpkins from SweetHome.
Seriously awesome, right?
So anyway, I made my mini cheese balls and off we went to the burbs. When we arrived, my stepmom comes out to greet us. She stares at my mini pumpkins…
then shows me what she’s making in the kitchen. Apparently, we were hosting our own Iron Chef episode and we didn’t even know it. We’re such stars.
She’d been planning to make the mini cheese ball pumpkins since she got the email in her inbox from SweetHome early in the week. “I thought you’d be so proud of me!” Supporting the paycheque, Susie. Love it.
So she made three big daddy pumpkins to go with my munchkins.
We both used the same secret ingredients — goldfish crackers and cream cheese — but like any good chefs(!), made a few modifications to our own recipes.
For the mini balls:
I substituted walnuts for pecans because my stepsister’s allergic to walnuts. And instead of cheddar, I used the pre-grated Tex Mex cheese (blend of mozza, monterey jack and cheddar) so they were spicy. Also, my package of Goldfish had three types of fishies inside, which is why my pumpkins look like they have white chicken pox. Oh and I don’t have a Cuisinart so i had to crush my fishies by hand in a Ziploc. Yeah, yeah. I’m old school.
For the big balls:
My stepmom skipped the nuts and horseradish and subbed in onion for onion flakes because she was, well, cooking a four-course meal from scratch. Hers were smooth and creamy (including the coating, because she, like all moms, has a Cuisinart). Hers were better if you’re not a fan of the spice.
