My other half found this fantastic idea for canapés or appetisers when you have friends over. We just had to make them at our Christmas party this year! These super cute penguins definitely caught the eye of our friends and everyone absolutely loved them. They aren’t too faffy to make and are worth the effort in the end. You can make them vegetarian by not adding the pancetta scarfs. You’ll have a lot of fun making them (I believe they will be a hit with children in the kitchen too!) and you’ll definitely have fun eating them.
Mozzarella Penguins
Makes 20 (or as many as you need!) | Prep 30 minutes | No cooking
A little effort | Gluten-free
You’ll need (adjust the amount of ingredients depending on how many you need. Ingredients below are for 20 little penguins):
- 1 medium carrot;
- 40 black olives, pitted;
- 20 mini mozzarella balls;
- 20 toothpicks;
- 2 slices smoked pancetta.
Full instructions below, or just watch this video for a quick demo.
Prepare all the ingredients before you start assembling. Slice 20 medium disks (just over the thickness of a pound coin) from the carrot.
Use 20 of the olives to make the penguin wings. Carefully cut the olive through the middle lengthways without separating at the top – you need the olive halves to open up but to still be attached at the top.
Halve the pancetta slices, then cut 5 strips from each halve. These will be used for the scarves.
To assemble, take a mini mozzarella ball and slide it into a ‘halved’ olive to form the ‘body’. Using a toothpick, attach a whole olive to the ‘body’ with the olive whole towards you. Cut out a triangle from a carrot disk, roughly a quarter from the disk and set aside. Attach the disk at the other end of the body, then take the little quarter you cut out and half it. Carefully place this in the olive whole which makes the head to complete it. Finally, wrap a slice of pancetta as a scarf around the penguin.
I hope you enjoy making and eating those penguins. Credit to this video by Recipe Videos for the idea.
Food Notes 