Halloween Pumpkin Smokey Cheese Ball Recipe

This spooky, smokey pumpkin cheese ball is really easy to make and is best made the day ahead so that the dip can "set" so it's perfect for a make-ahead Halloween recipe. The recipe is inspired by Amy Sedaris's lil smokey cheesball and involves blending up cheeses together with some cold, previously roasted pumpkin and then placing it in a cling wrap lined bowl. Then just take a toothpick and run some lines down it like a pumpkin and then stick a bit of broccoli stem on top and some bagel chips around the side and you're done!

Smokey Pumpkin Cheese Ball

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 20 minutes plus overnight setting time

Cooking time: 0 minutes

• 1 cup/120g/4ozs shredded smoked cheese

• 500g/1 pound cream cheese

• 60g/2 ozs butter

• 2 teaspoons steak or bbq sauce

• 1 cup/250g/8.8ozs pumpkin

• Salt and pepper to taste

• A little liquid smoke (optional)

• 1 small broccoli stem

• Crackers to serve

Step 1 - In a food processor blend all of the ingredients except for the broccoli and crackers until smooth. Spoon into a cling wrap lined bowl, press down gently to get rid of any air holes and cover with more cling wrap. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight. When ready to serve, unmold onto a serving plate and place upturned broccoli stem on top. Serve with crackers (I used bagel crisps as they were hard enough so that people could dip them into the cheese ball).