Penguins on Ice!

Ok, it's not exactly ice. It's a store bought vegetable cream cheese dip. I made these for Christmas eve and they were a bit hit. The family was taking photos of them!!! They are not very hard to make either. A friend of mine made these earlier this month for a Christmas party I attended. Ok, it wasn't her that made them it was her husband!!!

You do need two different size olives and a sharp knife! You also need the cream cheese, carrots and toothpicks.

The toothpick things I used were too big and they had a fork like "thing" at the bottom. I don't recommend it unless that is all you have to use. It caused the carrots to crack and I had to cut a new one.

Here is how you make them. Drain the olives. Take the larger one and cut a football shape in it from top to bottom. This is the belly of the penguin. Fill the belly full of the dip. You can do all of them first or you can make and assemble as you go. I did a make and assemble because I needed to know how many would fit around the dip container.

Slice the carrot, you want the slices to be about the size of a quarter and about 1/8" thick. Cut a "V" in the carrot slice. This will make the penguin look like he has two feet. The "V" you cut out will be used for the beak in the head piece. For that head piece you will need to cut a triangle in the middle or lower middle so the carrot "V" piece will fit into it. Don't make it too big or the "V" piece will fall through.

Ok, now you have carrots sliced with a "V" in it. Bellies filled with dip and head pieces with the carrot "V" in it. Now to assemble. Take the head piece and insert the tooth pick until you see it come out the bottom. Set the body piece under it and push the toothpick in even further until you see it come out the bottom of that one. Now push the toothpick with the olives on it into the carrot. Push slowly, you don't want to crack the carrot. If it just cracks, that's ok but if it breaks in two you really do need to make a new one.

To make my penguins stick around the plate I used a bit of the dip as a "glue." You do have to make sure the carrot is dry or it will just slide on the dip. Set them around the dip or a bread bowl. They are completely edible and TOTALLY adorable!

Have fun making them for your New Year's eve party!
Wanda