Vegan snowman cheese ball

5 from 3 votes

Turn an easy tofu cheese into an adorable snowman. Perfect for holiday parties! Serve with crackers. It's a mild flavored spread that also goes beautifully with a vegan charcuterie board.

Prep Time13

Cook Time2

Total Time15

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Vegan

Keyword: christmas food idea, holiday party food, holiday recipe

Servings: people

Calories: 64kcal

Author: Cadry Nelson

Ingredients

For tofu cheese

16 ounces super firm tofu in vacuum packaging
4 teaspoons white miso paste
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoons tahini
½ teaspoon salt

For the snowman

5 capers for eyes and buttons
1 tiny slice carrot for nose
1 sliver red bell pepper for mouth
2 pretzel sticks or rosemary sprigs, for arms

Instructions

To make the tofu cheese

Use your hands to crumble super firm tofu into food processor in chunks. Then add white miso paste, nutritional yeast flakes, lemon juice, tahini, and salt.
Process at a low speed until everything is evenly incorporated. Stop a couple times to scrape down the sides, so that all of the ingredients get mixed together. Keep blending until totally smooth. (With my food processor, I know it's ready once it forms into a ball inside of the machine.)

To make the snowman

Now it's time to form your snowman. Use your hands to scoop out a handful of tofu cheese. Roll it into a ball. Set it aside and make two more. I recommend varying the sizes, so that one is large, the second is medium, and the third is on the smaller side.
Stack the three balls on top of each other to make the snowman. The snowman can be as small or large as you like.
Now decorate the snowman. Add capers for eyes and buttons, a sliced carrot for a nose, a sliver of red bell pepper for a mouth, and pretzel sticks or rosemary sprigs for arms.
Place the snowman on a serving platter or small wood serving board with crackers.

Notes

You can find vacuum packed super firm tofu at Trader Joe's, or in natural grocery stores sold by Wildwood.

If you only have water-packed tofu, you’ll need to press it first. You’ll likely need about a package and a half of the water-packed variety, because the water-packed kind comes in smaller packages. (Water packed tofu is generally 14 ounces in comparison to 16 ounces of super firm.) And some of the weight is water, which will be removed with draining and pressing.

I don’t recommend silken tofu for this recipe. It’s soft and won’t give you the bulk you need for forming the snowman.

I kept this tofu cheese mildly flavored, so that it could be served with any number of flavored crackers, vegan meats, sliced vegetables, and pickled things. However, you can intensify the flavor if you'd prefer by adding minced garlic, fresh or dried basil, and/or granulated onion to the tofu mixture before processing. Keep in mind that fresh or dried basil will affect the color.

To keep the snowman gluten free and oil free, use gluten free & oil free pretzel sticks or rosemary sprigs for the arms.

You will almost certainly have tofu cheese leftover. You can either make a bunch of snowmen, or use the tofu cheese elsewhere in a lasagna or as a spread on its own. If you decide to make several snowmen, you'll need more decorations like capers & pretzel sticks.

Store any leftovers in the refrigerator in a covered container. It will last about 4 days.

If you'd prefer a soy-free option for this snowman, use my almond cheese balls recipe instead. Keep in mind that recipe needs to be refrigerated before forming into balls, and plan accordingly. (Just skip the part of that recipe where the balls are breaded and fried.)

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