Photo by Jason Wyche (c)
*MICE ARE ASSOCIATED WITH SWISS CHEESE for reasons I don’t understand, but I do understand that Swiss cheese and Dijon mustard is a winning combination best served shaped like tiny mice with big sliced-almond ears and outlandishly long tails made from chives.
makes about 16 mice
ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
- 1 tablespoon chopped shallots
- 1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Crackers, for serving
- Black olives, sliced almonds, and fresh chives, for decorating
instructions
Using a stand mixer or a bowl and a spatula, mix together the cream cheese, Swiss, shallots, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and salt until combined. Using a teaspoon, scoop out about sixteen 1-ounce balls of the cheese mixture and form into mouse shapes–teardrop-shaped balls of cheese about the size of your thumb. Place the mouse-shaped cheese balls on a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
Before serving, set each “mouse” on a cracker and decorate with a tiny piece of olive each for the eyes and nose, 2 sliced almonds for the ears, and a chive for the tail.
*Excerpted from GREAT BALLS OF CHEESE, (c) 2013 by Michelle Buffardi. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved.
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