Melting Snowman Crostini
Melting Snowman Crostini- These three cheese crostini are as delicious as they are adorable, and they’re a must have for any holiday table.
December 19, 2022 by Nicole Collins
Long time no talk!
Guys, I’m struggling over here.
Between the doomy and gloomy weather and the dark days, I’m having a hard time getting motivated.
Bundle that with the pressure I feel to keep up with social media and the hours and hours it takes to product video content, and I feel like I just can’t keep up.
So, I’m sorry we haven’t chatted for a while!
But if you want to keep up with me, TikTok is the best place to do it these days. So make sure you’re following along over there! (@theyummymuffin02 is where you can find me!)
I’ve been doing a “12 Days of Holiday Bites” series on the socials where I’ve been sharing some of my favorite recipes perfect for spreading a little holiday cheer. And, today’s recipe is Day 8!
So today, we’re making Melting Snowman Crostini!
First, can we talk about how freaking adorable these cheesy little bites are? There’s crusty bread and 3 different types of cheese. What more could anyone possibly want out of a winter themed handheld bite!
Next, let me be honest with you. These are a little bit of a labor of love. But in the best way! These are not difficult to assemble at all, but we do need a little time and patience to manually attach those little black sesame seeds buttons. That’s the price we pay for beauty, you know?
Ok, so let’s talk about our snowmen’s heads. I went back and forth on what flavor of cheeseball I wanted to make our snowmen. And while I was shopping the cheese aisle, I had a revelation. Boursin cheese! Boursin cheese is absolutely perfect for this project because you can pick from lots of incredibly delicious flavors that fit your vibe. It mimics softened cream cheese texture wise which is just what we need for this project. And, you basically have all the benefits of a homemade cheeseball without any of the work.
So once I settled on Boursin cheese, I saw that they had a new product called Boursin bites. If you grab those, we’ll take 3 at a time, mush them together, and roll them into little balls. If you go for the standard 5oz block of cheese, just use a 1 tbsp cookie scoop to portion out the cheese and roll it into a ball.
To make our cheese balls nice and snowy, we’re going to coat them in shredded parmesan cheese. Since our cheese balls are so small and delicate, I find that it helps to run a knife through the parm to break it down into smaller shreds. Then, we’ll roll each cheese ball through the parm to coat it, gently press the cheese on to make sure it adheres, and it’s time to work on the face.
Here’s where this project gets a little labor intensive. I wracked my brain for a good 2 weeks trying to figure out what we could use to make the button snowman face on a savory cheese ball. Ultimately, black sesame seeds are the absolute right answer. But picking them up and attaching them one at a time can be a little tricky. So, here’s the secret. If you spread out some sesame seeds on a plate, grab a toothpick, and dip the end of the toothpick in a little water; the wet toothpick is able to attract sesame seeds so that you can pick them up one by one and gently press them onto the snowmen’s face. As the water wears off, dip the toothpick again, and repeat the process until all your sesame seeds are placed. Then, we’ll cut out little triangles of orange bell pepper to stick in the face as a nose, and our snowman heads are done!
Once our snowman faces are ready, we can work on their melty bodies. We’ll slice some baguette into half inch slices, give them a drizzle of olive oil, then pop them in the oven for about 5 minutes to start toasting. Then we’ll flip the crostini over, top them with some shredded mozzarella cheese, then put them back in the oven until the cheese just melts. We don’t want our cheese to start to brown…our snowmen don’t need sunburns! We want that cheese just melty and gooey which only takes about another 2-3 mins.
When the crostini are finished baking, we want to move quickly to finish assembly. We need to take advantage of the gooeyness of the melty cheese to help act like glue before it sets up. So, we’ll finish our crostini with our snowman heads, some pretzel stick arms, and a couple more sesame seed buttons. And, our little melting snowmen are ready to eat!
These crostini are not just good looks. Yes, they’re so darn adorable. But, they’re also loaded with three different cheeses. So, they’re absolutely freaking delicious. I hadn’t worked much with Boursin cheese before these crostini, but now I’m basically obsessed.
Get ready for 24/7 Boursin cheese content is what I’m saying.
Alright, everyone! Make sure you’re following along on my socials so you can see the rest of the 12 Days of Holiday Bites series. It’s been so fun!
I hope you guys love these as much as I do. So, let’s eat!
Melting Snowman Crostini
Serves: 12 crostini Print
Ingredients:
1 container (4.23 oz) Boursin Bites or 1 pack (5.2 oz) Boursin cheese in any flavor (I used garlic/fine herbs and shallot/chive flavors)
½ cup shredded parmesan
1 mini orange bell pepper
½ baguette, sliced into ½ inch slices
olive oil, for drizzling
¾ shredded mozzarella
12 mini pretzel sticks, broken in half
Black sesame seeds
Directions:
Make the snowman heads: If using Boursin Bites, take 3 bites, mush them together, and roll them into a ball. If using a whole block of Boursin, use a 1 tbsp cookie scoop to measure out cheese, and roll into a ball. Repeat with remaining cheese. Set cheese balls aside on a parchment or wax paper lined plate.
Run a knife through the shredded parmesan cheese to chop it into smaller shreds, and transfer cheese to a small plate. Cut the mini bell pepper into thin strips, and cut 12 small triangles from the strips. Pour some black sesame seeds onto a plate, and have a small dip bowl of water nearby.
Working one at a time, take a cheese ball and roll it all over in the parmesan cheese, pressing gently to help the parmesan adhere, until the cheese ball is completely coated. Take a pepper triangle, and press it into the center of the ball to make a nose. Take a toothpick, dip the end of the toothpick into the water bowl, and pick up a black sesame seed one at a time. Arrange sesame seeds around the pepper nose to create eyes and a mouth, dipping the toothpick in water as needed to help pick up the seeds. Repeat with remaining cheese balls, and set aside.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Arrange baguette slices in a single layer on the baking sheet, and lightly drizzle the top side of the bread with olive oil. Bake for 5 mins. Remove from the oven, flip over the crostini, and top each crostini with about 1 tbsp of shredded mozzarella. Place back in the oven for 2-3 mins until the cheese has just melted, but has not started to brown.
As soon as the crostini come out of the oven, place a snowman head on one side of the crostini, attach 2 broken pretzel pieces coming off the sides for arms, and use the toothpick method to attach 3 more sesame seed buttons.
Serve immediately, and enjoy!
Recipe notes:
*Attaching the sesame seeds is a little bit of a labor of love, but it goes faster than you’d think.
*You could also use slivers of carrot for the snowman nose.
*After the crostini come out of the oven, it’s important to move quickly to finish assembling them. We want to take advantage of the warm melted cheese and let it act like glue from our snowman heads, arms, and buttons.
