Sunday, December 20, 2009

Perky Olive Penguins


How cute are these?! I come from an olive-loving family, and family functions wouldn't be the same without kids and their olive-topped fingers. We don't often have olives at our house, since Paige and I are the only ones that like them, but I recently came across this cute appetizer recipe, and she and I had a fun time today making them together!

I swapped out the horseradish and seasonings for some ranch dip mix, and recommend drying the pimentos with a paper towel before trying to assemble the penguins.

-Adapted from Taste of Home

Jumbo pitted olives, drained
1 package (3 oz) cream cheese, softened
1/2 tsp. powdered ranch dressing mix
1 medium carrot, cut into 1/4 inch slices
Small pitted olives, drained
12 toothpicks with cellophane frilled tops
1 jar (2 oz) sliced pimentos

Cut a slit from the top to bottom of 12 jumbo olives; set aside. In a bowl, combine the next six ingredients; mix well. Fill a small heavy-duty plastic bag with cream cheese mixture. Cut a small hole in the corner of the bag; carefully pipe mixture into jumbo olives. Set aside.

Cut a small triangle out of each carrot slice; press triangles into small olives for a beak. On a each notched carrot slice, position a jumbo olive so the white chest is lined up with the notch. Place the small olive, hole side down, over the jumbo olive so the beak, chest and feet are aligned. Carefully insert a toothpick through the top of head into body and carrot base. Wrap a pimiento around neck for a scarf. Yield: 1 dozen.

2 comments:

Terry said...

How cute! There's only a handful of olive lovers in my family. What a great excuse to make these adorable treats....and eat them all by ourselves. :) Thanks for the idea.

Ryan and Lori said...

They are adorable! Maybe a few more would gander a try when they're this cute!