CHEESE ANIMAL RECIPES

Steps:

• Pulse cheese in a food processor until finely ground, then transfer to a bowl. Whisk in flour, baking powder, and salt, then blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Form a well in center of flour mixture and add milk and egg, then stir with a wooden spoon until a dough forms.
• Gently knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth, about 2 minutes. Chill dough in a sealed plastic bag, 1 hour.
• Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F.
• Divide dough in half and roll out into 2 (12-inch) rounds (less than 1/16 inch thick) on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin. Cut out as many crackers as possible from dough with cutters and transfer to 2 large baking sheets, arranging crackers about 1/4 inch apart. Discard remaining dough. (Do not reroll scraps; crackers would be tough.)
• Bake crackers, switching position of sheets and rotating them 180 degrees halfway through baking, until undersides are golden, 10 to 12 minutes. (Crackers positioned near edges of pan may need to be removed first.) Cool crackers completely on sheets on a rack, about 15 minutes.
• *Available at foosecookiecutters.com.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Soak pieces of torn bread in the milk in a bowl for 5 minutes. Gently squeeze out milk. Add beaten egg to the soaked bread and mix well.
• Mix garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, salt, Italian herb seasoning, sugar, and Parmesan cheese together in a small bowl. Add to bread-egg mixture.
• Place ground beef in a mixing bowl. Add seasoning mixture and onions; mix together with a fork. If mixture is too dry, add up to a tablespoon of milk. Roll into 25 meatballs and arrange on rimmed baking sheet.
• Bake in preheated oven until browned and cooked through, about 18 minutes.
• Drain meatballs on a paper towel. Remove grease from the baking sheet. Transfer meatballs back to the baking sheet. Drizzle 1 cup BBQ sauce over meatballs.
• Return sheet to oven and bake 12 more minutes.
• Use a small animal vegetable cutter to make animals out of green, orange, and red peppers. Cut animals out of Colby Jack and mild Cheddar cheese.
• Drain meatballs on a paper towel and add more BBQ sauce if desired. Add cheese animal cut-out and then animal pepper cut-out to the toothpicks. Work quickly to add toothpick to each meatball.