Halloween Charcuterie Platter Recipe

A char-spookerie - aka a Halloweencharcuterie - is one of the easiest, most fun ways to feed a crowd. Pile your board with delicious savoury and sweet bites: cured meats, a handful of cheeses, a homemade pumpkin cheese ball, pretzel broomsticks and a scattering of dried fruit and crackers for a spooky yet stylish spread.

Char-Spookerie Platter

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 40 minutes

Cooking time: 0 minutes

Serves: 8

For Pumpkin Cheese Ball:

• 250g/8.8ozs cream cheese (not low fat or spreadable)
• 1 cup/100g/3.5ozs. cheddar cheese, grated
• 1/4 onion, finely diced
• 2-3 tablespoons Sriracha
• 100g/3.5ozs. tasty cheese corn chips, crushed finely
• 1 cinnamon stick

For Pretzel Broomsticks:

• 16 straight pretzels

• 8 string cheese sticks

• 2 baby spinach leaves

To serve

• An assortment of 5 cheeses (I had a triple creme Langres, Bleu de Rambouillet, Crottin, Delice de Bourgogne and Ossau Iraty)
• Pepper crusted chilli salami
• Twiggy sticks
• Fresh figs cut in half
• Dried fruit (apricots, quince and dates)
• Charcoal wafer crackers

To make the pumpkin cheese ball blend the cream cheese with the cheddar cheese, onion and Sriracha and place in some clingfilm and shape into a ball and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight (this can be done 2-3 days ahead of time). Roll in the corn chip crumbs and insert a cinnamon stick in the centre.

To make the pretzel broomsticks, cut each string cheese in half and pull apart at one end to create a broom effect but do not peel all the way to the top. Stick a pretzel in the other end. Slice a baby spinach leaf into thin slices and wrap around the top of the cheese - the spinach should stick to the cheese.