Cheesy Owl & Free Printable

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Cute owl aside, this is a pretty good recipe originally from my neighbor. I'll start with the cheeseball recipe first. I doubled it and created a bigger owl (pictured) for a party I was going to and a smaller one for home. 

Ingredients:
8oz Cream Cheese (softened)
1 C Spicy Pepper Jack Cheese (grated)
1 T Green Onions (finely chopped)
1 T Worcestershire Sauce
1 t Lemon Juice
1/2 t Lemon Pepper
1/2 C Slivered Almonds (finely chopped)
Parsley 

Owl Embellishments:
2 slices of olives
A slice of pepper jack (cut in two circles using a teaspoon)
Slivered Almonds
3 pretzels

Recipe:
Mix all ingredients (except almonds and parsley) well.
Place cheese mix onto a square of saran wrap or wax paper and form into a ball.
Refrigerate until cool (about 30 minutes).
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Form into owl by making the top smaller than the bottom and using thumbs to squish out ears.
Roll in almonds and parsley, try to avoid the stomach. 
Use a serrated knife to scrape the belly starting in a row at the bottom and moving toward the top - this will (hopefully) give the effect of belly feathers. Keep excess cheese for later. 
Place the two circles of pepper jack where you want the eyes. Attach the olive slices to the middle by using some of the excess cheese. 
Some of the slivered Almonds will still have skin on one side, use one or two for the beak. 
Use the slivered almonds to embellish the forehead and ears and create wings. The back of the owl is just chopped nuts and parsley. Sorry I didn't get a side photo to show you the wings!
To create a wing, make a column of slivered almonds from the eye down the side of the belly and do a few shorter columns after that. 

For the talons, cut just to the side of the bottom of the "V" (see photo). Each pretzel should give you 2 talons. 

This whole project will take about an hour to an hour and a half depending on how detail-oriented you are.

​Enjoy!

P.S. Special thanks to Katie and Alison!