Description
These Halloween-themed Spider Cheeseballs are a fun and spooky appetizer perfect for party gatherings. Cream cheese, goat cheese, herbs, and garlic are combined into flavorful balls coated in black sesame seeds, then decorated with pretzel stick legs to resemble creepy spiders. They are chilled until firm and served with crackers or extra pretzels for a festive treat that’s sure to delight guests.
Ingredients
Scale
Cheese Mixture
- 2 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 ounces goat cheese
- 4 green onions, chopped
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon dried dill weed
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Coating and Decoration
- 1/2 cup black sesame seeds
- 2 cups pretzel sticks
- Additional pretzels and crackers for serving
Instructions
- Mix the Cheese Base: In a bowl, beat together the softened cream cheese and olive oil until smooth and creamy. Then add the goat cheese, chopped green onions, minced garlic, dried dill weed, dried oregano, kosher salt, and black pepper. Beat all together until fully combined. Chill the mixture for 30 minutes to firm up.
- Form Cheese Balls: Using your hands, roll the chilled cheese mixture into balls about 1 1/2 inches for small spiders and 3 inches for large spiders. Make sure they are smooth and compact.
- Coat the Balls: Roll each cheese ball in a bowl of black sesame seeds, coating evenly so they resemble the texture and color of a spider body.
- Add Pretzel Legs: For small spiders, break 4 pretzel sticks in half to create eight leg pieces, and stick them into the cheese balls—four on each side. For the large spiders, insert 8 whole pretzel sticks as legs, four on each side.
- Chill Before Serving: Wrap the decorated spider cheeseballs tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve. Serve chilled with additional pretzels and crackers on the side.
Notes
- Use room temperature cream cheese for easier mixing.
- Adjust the size of the cheese balls to make more or fewer spiders depending on your guest count.
- Black sesame seeds give the cheeseballs a spooky look but can be substituted with finely ground black pepper or poppy seeds if unavailable.
- To make the pretzel legs easier to insert, you can gently warm the cheeseballs to soften slightly before adding legs.
- These cheeseballs are best served within 24 hours of preparation for optimum freshness.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 spider cheeseball (approx. 70g)
- Calories: 140
- Sugar: 1.2g
- Sodium: 280mg
- Fat: 12g
- Saturated Fat: 5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 6g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 4g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 4g
- Cholesterol: 25mg
