Halloween cheese broomsticks

About this recipe

Cheese broomsticks turn a familiar cheese-and-pretzel snack into a Halloween decoration that can be eaten. The cheese supplies the bristles, a pretzel forms the handle and a chive leaf suggests the binding. Recipes use either rolled cheese slices or short pieces of string cheese; the latter avoid the problem of cold slices cracking during rolling. Cutting only the lower half leaves a strong collar that holds the handle. A small pilot hole helps reduce pressure on both the cheese and the brittle pretzel. Fresh, flexible chives are easier to tie without breaking. These are best assembled shortly before an autumn party because cheese moisture eventually softens the handles. Vegetarian rennet and vegan-labelled pretzels are explicit ingredient requirements here. The broom shape is a modern themed snack, without a reliably documented single inventor.