Get Some Ohhhs and Ahhs: Olive Penguins

I realize that black olives are a polarizing food … you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. But I know a fair amount of children who love them. And I mean la-la-la-LOVE them, to the point where they can eat an unreasonable quantity of them. My friend Penny’s niece was one such child, but at a family event she had only one. Concerned, her family asked why she wasn’t eating the olives. “Those have bones in them,” was her response. Apparently the kid had never had an olive with the pit still in it!

But whether you love olives or not, how can you not love these adorable penguins? We have made them several times at our house, and they are always a huge hit. And I am not a cutesy, crafty person … so if you’re worried about the level of difficulty, fear not! These are easy to make. A couple of my co-workers and I made this batch in our test kitchen in less than an hour. And when we put them out for all to enjoy we got rave reviews!

So for your next holiday gathering, wow ‘em with your adorable penguins! I found this recipe online and adapted it, and some of the originators of this concept created a whole “penguin scape” – complete with an igloo cheese ball. That definitely exceeds my skill level (and attention span), but if YOU try it be sure to submit a photo!

j*A*N*e

Black Olive Penguins

Ingredients

• 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
• 1 packet Olive & Herb Cheese Ball Mix
• 6 oz. can jumbo black olives, pitted
• 6 oz. can small black olives, pitted
• 1 carrot, washed and peeled
• 1 roasted red pepper (from a jar)
• 1 quart-sized, re-sealable freezer bag
• Frilly toothpicks

Blend the cream cheese with the Olive & Herb Cheese Ball Mix^™; place in a re-sealable freezer bag and chill for 1 hour or more to blend flavors. Bring to room temperature to fill the olives.

Prep work: (See photos below)

• Drain the olives (keep the two sizes separate) and pat them dry with paper towels.
• Cut a small piece lengthwise out of each jumbo olive (see photos).
• Cut a V-shaped groove out of the carrot, lengthwise, then slice the carrot into coins. Not too thin – you’ll need to be able to get a toothpick securely into the “feet.”
• Cut the skinny carrot piece that you removed for the feet into short pieces for the beaks
• Insert carrot “beaks” into the small olives.
• Open up a roasted red pepper and gently pat it dry with a paper towel. Slice very thin strips about 3-4” long for scarves.

Snip a tiny corner off your freezer bag and pipe the cream cheese mixture into the V in the jumbo olive, full enough that the white cream cheese mixture is visible through the cut in the front. Place the filled olive upright onto a carrot coin; top the jumbo olive with a small olive “head” and keep the whole thing together by running the toothpick through the whole works, top to bottom. Wrap a roasted red pepper “scarf” around the neck. Ta da!

Olive Penguins

Testing Notes:

• There were three of us making these, and we got into a groove using an assembly line approach. You can make them alone, but it’s not as much fun. Nancy offered a running commentary on the cuteness of each and every penguin: “Oh look at this cute one!” “Oh … this one is looking down!” “Oh … this one spilled something on the front of his tux!”
• Once you have your prep work done, things move pretty quickly.
• The first mistake you are going to make is to make too big a cut when you snip the corner off your freezer bag for piping. Start small – smaller than you think! You can always cut more off if you need to, but gluing bits of plastic back onto the corner of your bag is no picnic. It’s almost as painful as scraping your cream cheese mixture out of the bag and into a new one, so trust me on this – start small!
• The next mistake I made was to cut the “feet” carrots too thin – we couldn’t get the toothpick to stay in them, so be sure to cut the carrot coins a little thicker than a nickel. Or maybe even two nickels.
• Lynn had trouble cutting the little strip out of the jumbo black olives. I didn’t, so I’m not sure what to tell you other than to use a small, sharp paring knife. I think maybe her beautifully manicured nails were getting in the way, so make your olive penguins before you get your nails done!
• We were going to skip the roasted red pepper scarves, because that seemed a little futzy, but we tried one and it was so dang cute we decided the scarves were worth the effort.
• We lined our penguins up like little tuxedoed soldiers on a plate and set them out for our co-workers to enjoy. It was a great way to get lots of “oohs” and “ahhhhhhhhhhs”! We were very proud of our little guys, and they were not only cute but delicious too!

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