Our Mad Scientist theme continues with a little inspiration coming from the Mexican drink, Agua de Jamaica. A slightly tart herbal tea made with dried hibiscus flowers that’s reminiscent of cranberry juice. Ok, so maybe this recipe isn’t inspired by the actual drink…but rather the Hibiscus flowers. I used whole hibiscus flowers to create a mutant cheese and fruit plant that I affectionately call, Venus Eye Traps. I stuffed hibiscus flowers with cream cheese and fruit leather eyeballs and then plated them in a flower pot filled with melted crazy straws to create the squiggly stems. Add a bunch of mint and voila! A hybrid Venus Eye Trap plant! Just pluck a flower from the stem and pop it into you mouth! Enjoy!
Venus 'Eye' Trap
A mutant cheese platter with hibiscus flowers and cheese-y eyeballs that's sure to create a spectacle at a Mad Scientist Halloween party!
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Servings: 12 eyeballs
Ingredients
- 12 oz. jar Wild Hibiscus Flowers in Syrup, room temp about 12 per Jar
- 2 oz. cream cheese, refrigerated
- ¼ cup feta cheese, crumbled
- 2 rolls fruit leather (Mango and Grape) Irises and Pupils
- 12 toothpicks
Flower Pot with Straw Stems
- 1 small terracotta pot
- 1 Styrofoam insert
- 6 plastic crazy straws
- ½ cup black beans, dried (pot filler)
- mint sprigs
Instructions
Eye cheeseballs
- Mix cream cheese and feta cheese together while still cool from the refrigerator. Use a ¼ teaspoon and scoop out small rounds of cream cheese mixture and roll into 12 eyeball cheeseballs. If the mixture gets too warm, it'll get sticky and make it hard to roll into balls. if that happens, refrigerate for about 30 minutes.
- Use two sizes of straws to cut out the pupils and Irises from the fruit leather. I used a Large Metal Boba straw to cut the Irises from the mango fruit leather and a small plastic straw to cut the pupils out of the grape fruit leather. Feel free to mix up the color combinations.
- Cut out pupils and place on eyeball. Top with the mango irises and freeze for two hours or overnight.
- Drain hibiscus flowers from the syrup. Add frozen eyeball to the center of each hibiscus flower. Allow the frozen cheese eyeball to soften a little and then stick toothpicks through each flower eyeball.
Flower Pot with Crazy Straw Stems
- Heat the bendy part of the crazy straw over a burner on the stove until it begins to warm. Gently pull to straighten it out a little, but so that it's still wavy in the middle. Set aside to cool and repeat with remaining straws. Once cooled, cut the straws in half at different lengths and place them in the foam leaving the straight, un-melted ends up.
- Add mint sprigs. Place toothpicked eyeballs into the straight part of the straws. and serve. To eat, pluck a flower and pop into your mouth in one bite. (Take a look at the how to video below.)
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