Last night we were invited to a game night with friends. We were asked to bring an appetizer.

There are plenty of easy to eat appetizers to choose from, but I wanted to “go all out” and bring a themed dish. Unfortunately I’m not creative enough to come up with my own clever idea so I turned to the trusty internet. Most recipes I found were desert related – domino brownies, rice krispie treat billiards balls, etc. And then there was this die, made from cheese!

I’ve had cheese balls in the past and thought that this was a winner. The trick to making a cube instead of a ball is having enough time for the cheese to harden in a loaf pan. And to create the white exterior you “frost” the cube with more cream cheese. Stud it with black olives and you have yourself a die! (Mine wasn’t anatomically correct, but no one seemed to mind.)

Cheese Spread Cube

Ingredients:

• 24 oz cream cheese, divided
• 2 C shredded Italian blend cheese
• 6 scallions, chopped
• 1 tbsp milk
• sliced black olives for decorating

Steps:

1. Mix together 16 oz cream cheese with shredded cheese and scallions. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Place cheese in a plastic wrap lined loaf pan. Cover with more plastic wrap and place in the fridge for a minimum of 8 hours. You can do this the night before your party too.
3. Remove cheese from the fridge and cut the loaf in half. Place one half on top of the other to create a cube. (Or make multiple smaller dice, whatever you decide.)
4. Beat remaining 8 oz of cream cheese with the milk until smooth. (It’ll play a mind trick on you, thinking it’s marshmallow fluff or frosting!)
5. As if you were frosting a cake, cover the die with the smooth cream cheese. Stud the 5 visible sides with olive slices.
6. Serve with crackers or bread.

*This recipe was modified from http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cheese-spread-dice*