Easter Appetizer

http://www.hungryhappenings.com/2013/03/Easter-appetizers-baby-chick-cheese-ball.html#

Baby Chick Cheese Balls

You'll Need:

your favorite cheese ball recipe or choose from one of my recipes
Roasted Garlic Parmesan Cheese Ball Recipe
Taco Cheese Ball Recipe
Bacon Cheddar Cheese Ball Recipe

finely shredded cheddar cheese
(packaged works best as it wont stick together like freshly shredded cheese)

slices of cheddar cheese
orange food coloring
black olives
crackers

food processor, optional
knife
mini ice cream scoop or spoon
small round pastry tip #2, #3 or #4 or a small round straw
mini daisy metal cutter
mini tear drop shaped metal cutter
mini triangle shaped metal cutter
food only paint brush
food use only tweezers, optional

Instructions:

Most packaged shredded cheese have long strips of cheese. I wanted the chicks' fur to be shorter, so it looks fuzzy instead of hairy, so I poured the packaged shredded cheese into the food processor and pulsed it a few times, just to make the cheese pieces shorter. You can also do this with a knife, or just leave the cheese long.

Use a mini ice cream scoop or spoon to scoop out about 1/2 tablespoon of the cheese ball mixture. Drop it into the shredded cheese. Roll around, pressing on the cheese, creating a ball. Reserve a small amount of the cheese ball mixture to use as edible glue to attach the decorations.

Cut 2 mini daisy shapes, 2 mini tear drops, and 2 mini triangles out of slices of cheddar cheese for each chick you are making. Brush the daisy shapes (which will become the chick's feet) and the beaks with orange food coloring. Use some of the cheese ball "glue" to attach the feet and beak to the cheese ball. Attach the wings to the side of the ball.

To make the eyes. Slice thin slivers off the sides of black olives. Press the small end of a pastry tip or straw into the olive. Twist and pull up. To remove the eyes from the pastry tip, turn it so the large opening is down and tap it a few times until the eyes fall out. If using a straw, push it out the open end. Attach the eyes to the cheese ball chicks by just pressing them into the cheese. You may want to use tweezers to do this.

Set the chicks on crackers and they are ready to serve.

To store, place just the decorated chicks in an airtight container. When ready to serve, set on crackers.