Name: Penguin Cheeseball
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Yield: 1
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 2 8oz pkgs of cream cheese, softened; 1 tsp salt; 1/2 tsp garlic powder; 1/2 tsp onion powder; 1 tablespoon everything bagel seasoning; 3 slices deli ham, diced small; 1/4 cup shredded white cheddar; 1 carrot; 1 black olive; 1 eggplant

Jump to Recipe

This penguin cheeseball is a delicious and adorable appetizer to make this winter, perfect for any cold weather gathering! With only a few natural ingredients needed to “decorate” and a delicious everything bagel flavored cheeseball this recipe is a winner!

Image of cheeseball appetizer decorated like a penguin, sitting on a wood board with crackers

You all know that I love a good dressed up cheeseball. It all started with my Thanksgiving turkey cheeseball, then came the leprechaun cheeseball. After that I needed some festive Easter cheeseballs and created the chick cheeseball and bunny cheeseball. I also created a simple basketball cheeseball perfect for March madness! Moral of the story- I love a cute cheeseball!

How to decorate a penguin cheeseball

To make this penguin you’ll only need a few ingredients! An eggplant, a black olive and a carrot. You’ll want a sharp paring knife to help you cut these shapes for the penguin.

Peel a carrot and cut 2 rounds for the feet. Cut out 3 little triangles from each round to make the feet. Use the skinny end of the carrot and cut it into a long pyramid shape (as pictured below) for the beak.

carrot slices cut into feet and a beak for the penguin cheeseball decorating

2. Cut the eggplant lengthwise and then hollow it out. You’ll use this to cut shapes to cover the penguin body and head. For the head use on of the bottoms of the eggplant and cut a widows peak shape. For the sides it’s easiest to eyeball the shape of your side and cut the remaining eggplant pieces to fit. Triangles tended to be easiest to piece over the round shape of the cheeseball.

a hollowed out eggplant which will work as the body for the penguin and carrot pieces in the shape of feet and a beak for the penguin cheeseball

3. Cut an olive in half lengthwise and then cut 1/4″ wide pieces for the eyes. I ended up cutting several olives until I got pieces that I was happy with.

Cheeseball Recipes:

The recipe for this penguin cheeseball is an everything bagel flavor with ham and cheese, it’s delicious but any flavor of cheeseball can be decorated as a penguin. You could use a store bought cheeseball or make any of these flavors of cheeseballs:

picture of cheeseball appetizer decorated to look like it's a penguin

When you make this cute penguin cheeseball please let me know! I love to see when you make recipes from the blog, it really makes me SO happy! Share it with me in the comments or tag me on Instagram (@handmadeintheheartland) or facebook!

Penguin Cheeseball

Yield: 1 cheeseball

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Additional Time: 1 hour

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

This penguin cheeseball is a delicious and adorable appetizer to make this winter, perfect for any cold weather gathering!

Ingredients

2 8oz pkgs of cream cheese, softened
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1 tablespoon everything bagel seasoning
3 slices deli ham, diced small
1/4 cup shredded white cheddar

For decorating

1 carrot
1 black olive
1 eggplant

Instructions

Mix all ingredients together until well combined, I use my Kitchenaid stand mixer. With damp hands roll the mixture into a ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 1 hour to chill and firm up a bit.

Using a pairing knife carefully cut the eggplant in half lengthwise and then hollow it out discarding the inside. You will use the dark purple skin of the eggplant as the dark part of the penguin. Slice an olive in half lengthwise and then cut a piece 1/4" wide out of each half for the eyes.

Make the nose and feet out of the carrot. Slice the thickets part of the carrot into rounds and then using a sharp paring knife to cut little triangles out of the carrot to make little feet. Cut a small triangle shape for the beak.

Assemble the penguin. Remove the cheeseball from the fridge after a few hours and mold the ball into a snowman shape with a smaller round shape on the head and larger for the body. By just squeezing where you want the neck to be it should be easy to form the shape of the penguin.

Place "naked" cheeseball on the plate or serving board you'll be using. Then carefully cut the eggplant into pieces that cover the wing area and the head. Place the eggplant pieces on the cheeseball followed by the olive eyes, beak and feet! Enjoy!

Notes

Make sure the cream cheese is fully at room temperature, it is so much easier to work with.

Recommended Products

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn a small commission if you purchase something I recommend. I would never recommend products I don't love and use!

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 24 Serving Size: 2 Tablespoons
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 85Total Fat: 7gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 21mgSodium: 215mgCarbohydrates: 4gFiber: 1gSugar: 2gProtein: 2g

Need to save this recipe for later? Pin the image below!
If you came over from google web stories, so glad to have you! 🙂

Image of a cheeseball decorated as a penguin

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Diane M.

Thursday 31st of December 2020

Angela, this is sooo cute! I wouldn't want to eat it. Just kidding. Such a cute idea. Thanks for sharing. A Happy, Healthy new year to you & yours. Diane

Angela Muir

Monday 4th of January 2021

He is so cute, isn't he :) Happy new year to you too Diane!