Liven up your next gathering with some real party animals! These olive cocktail penguins and radish mice are too cute for words ~ and they’re delicious, too!
This week I’m injecting some whimsy into the cocktail hour with some beyond adorable olive penguins and radish mice. They’ll wow your guests and get everybody into the party spirit.
These ingenious little penguins are made with two sizes of black olive, some cream cheese, and a carrot.
I made this little fellow, and then I had to make an army of friends to keep him company. Making olive and cream cheese penguins is a slippery slope. (No one knows this better than penguins.)
I guarantee these guys will be the hit of your next party. Don’t worry, they are easy to make, and they don’t have to be prefect. Their imperfections and variations just make them more adorable. You can have dapper ones, scruffy ones, portly ones, sly ones and clueless ones…you’ll love them all.
Like I said your only problem might be knowing when to stop. It’s quite a stress-buster to sit down with a glass of wine and make these. You can knock out a waddle (that’s what it’s called, I looked it up) of penguins in no time.
My friend Judith used to make these radish mice for our kids during the holidays, but you don’t need to be a kid to appreciate them. I like to let them roam around a cheese plate.
They are super easy to make, and you’ll get lots of oohs and aaahs in return for very little effort.
I could only find round radishes, so my mice look a little chubby. If you come across oval ones, your mice will look even more like mice. Either way they’re pretty darn cute. Both the penguins and the mice can be made earlier in the day and refrigerated until party time, just make sure they’re covered. But they don’t keep well overnight.
To make an Olive and Cream Cheese Penguin—
You need a slice of carrot with a divot cut out of it, a large olive, cut in half, a medium olive, a small ball of cream cheese and a long toothpick or cocktail skewer.
The cream cheese gets stuffed between the two halves of the big olive, and then set on top of the carrot ‘feet’.
Cut the leftover bit of carrot into half again, and put it inside the puckered hole of the medium olive to form the beak. Put a long toothpick or cocktail skewer through the head.
Put the toothpick down through the cream cheese body and into the carrot.
Lower the penguin’s head gently down to meet his body.
To make a radish mouse—
Select a radish; it can be big or small, round or oval, but look for a nice long tail. Chop off the leafy end, this will be your mouse’s nose.
Cut a small slice off the bottom so your mouse will be stable. The exact place you make your cut will determine how you mouse is positioned, nose up, or nose down,
Cut small slits on each side of the head for the ears.
Insert small slices into the slits for the ears. You can take slices from another radish.
Is anybody else out there crazy enough to make these? Any other ideas for party animals?
Cheers!
Olive Cocktail Penguin
Ingredients
- 1 carrot slice
- 1 large olive, cut in half lengthwise
- 1 medium olive
- 1 tsp cream cheese
- 1 long toothpick or cocktail skewer
Instructions
- Cut a small divot from the carrot slice to form the "feet" base.
- Roll the cream cheese into a ball and insert between the halves of the large olive. The olive halves can touch at the back, and open out in the front to form the wings.
- Take the small carrot divot and cut in half again to form the beak.
- Insert the beak into the small hole in the medium olive.
- Run the toothpick through the head, down through the body, and into the carrot base.
- Lower the head to meet the body, and clean up the cream cheese. Adjust the penguin as necessary.
Notes
These are great, I’ve never seen radish mice before, will definatly be making them. Here’s my penguins – small one made with an olive and feta cheese – large one made with a boiled egg and nori.
I am almost in tears these are so adorable! I have to make these for a friend who loves penguins. Really beautiful, whimsical and fun!
Genious! Thank you for the inspiration.
Those penguins are amazing! Very cute!
PS
following you 🙂
I made the mice a few times, but never seen such a cute penguins, they really look like pingu! Love them!
Ciao
Alessandra
holy cow. those are two of the cutest appetizers i’ve ever seen. the penguin is surprisingly realistic (or as realistic as one can imagine it could be)–i applaud you!
They are adorable Sue. You are very clever and I bet these are a hit a party.
Sam
I love your waddle! and the mice are not bad either – a certain talking point at the next drinks night – definitely a pin.
Oh my goodness…these are darling. If this is what you are serving at your holiday cocktail party…I want an invite! You’re amazing! I have to say, I’m not sure if I would ever get around to making them…but I pinned them and I’ll be talking about them.