Looking for more party platters? You should also visit our tutorial for How to Assemble a Beautiful Cheeseboard, our Fall Harvest Cheese Board and the How to Make a Charcuterie Board guide.
A Christmas appetizer everybody will love!
It’s that time of the year again! Time for a delicious and beautiful cheese board. You really can’t go wrong with a cheese spread for a party. Or any gathering, really! A big holiday celebration, a movie night with family, the neighborhood association meeting and/or for book club meet-up. Gee, I sometimes make a small cheese plate just for myself! Working on the computer? Why not snack on some cheese and charcuterie? Cooking dinner for the family? A small serving of cheese won’t kill my appetite, right? My point is: make a cheeseboard. As big or a small as you want, but make one! And make a Christmas wreath shaped one if you’re feeling joyful. ‘Tis the season, after all!
What goes on a Christmas cheeseboard?
The beauty of a cheeseboard is that it can include whatever your heart desires! It can be a cheese only cheese plate, a charcuterie board, a chocolate and cheese platter and so many others. It can be seasonal, it can be classic, it can include fruits, veggies, olives, nuts, spreads, bread and crackers! This Christmas version is simple, cheap and makes it easy for guests to eat with their hands. No cheese knives or utensils necessary! Just grab and go mingle!
What are the best cheeses for a cheeseboard?
The perfect cheeseboard features a variety of texture and flavors. Ideally, one cheese of each of the four basic categories: aged, soft, firm and blue! I can get quite snobby with my cheese platters. Classics, obscure cheeses (I like to add at least one cheese I think people won’t know) and at least one type of cheese that will please picky-eaters. But here, for this Christmas themed board, I opted to keep it uncomplicated, with cheeses that could be cubed and that would help me achieve the wreath look. So I chose two different kind of good quality cheddar cheeses – sharp white cheddar cheese and yellow/orange cheddar – and fresh mozzarella pearls. That being said, you can use whatever cheese you like, as long as it can be cubed or chunked. Here are some ideas:
Swiss Monterey Jack Pepper Jack Havarti Parmesan
Crumbly cheeses, like the blue varieties, won’t work here, as you want to make it easy for guests to easily pick the cheeses from the wreath without the aid of utensils. As for serving size, a good rule of thumb is to calculate about 1 to 1 1/2 ounces of each cheese per person. So if you are following my recipe, that would be 3 to 4.5 ounces cheese total per person!
Ingredients for Christmas Wreath Cheese Platter
To make my version of a holiday cheese plate, you will need:
Greenery from the flower section – for the base! Rosemary White cheddar Yellow cheddar Fresh mozzarella pearls Prosciutto di Parma Cherry or grape tomatoes Olives – Skip the jarred stuff and go straight to the olive bar! Star shaped chips
The first time I made this cheeseboard, I used only rosemary for the base. And while people tore it apart in seconds, I found that it didn’t quite have the festive look I was looking for! So the next year, while shopping for the ingredients, I stopped by the flower section of my supermarket and grabbed a few bushes to lay down as the base of the wreath. Oh, so much better! I mean, this cheese plate is already so simple. Please don’t skimp on looks! It is all about its festiveness.
How to Make Christmas Wreath Cheeseboard
Assembling the cheese wreath is very easy. Don’t overthink it, there’s no need for a ruler or any measurements! Just start by making a circle with the greens and fill it with everything else. You can easily customize the size of the wreath depending on how many people you are serving. A large 14ish-inch wreath can feed 8-10 people! You can also keep extra ingredients on hand to refill the board as needed. Recommended equipment: large round board or platter. This is how I assemble a Christmas Wreath Cheeseboard:
How far in advance can I make a cheese platter?
If you assemble the cheeseboard on a wood board or platter, you can put it together up to a day ahead and keep refrigerated, tightly wrapped, until ready to serve. Take it out 1 hour before serving, so the meat and cheese can come to room temperature. For best flavor and texture, cheese should always be served at room temperature, ideally between 67 and 70 degrees.
Variations
This Christmas wreath cheeseboard is very customizable. Just add or switch some of the ingredients to cater to your party theme or needs! These are some fun suggestions:
Fruit: Just switch the tomatoes and olives for bite-sized fresh fruits, like grapes, cherries and berries. Nuts: You can add some Marcona almonds, pecans or walnuts. You want to use large nuts as the smaller ones – like peanuts – would be hard to grab. Chocolate: Chunks of bittersweet or dark chocolate would go great in a fruit and cheese board! Veggies: If you’re a veggie lover, you can add some extra veggies here, like cucumbers, baby carrots and broccoli florets. Pickles and cornichons can also be added! Charcuterie: You can transform this cheeseboard in a charcuterie board by adding more meat varieties, such as salami, sopressata and pepperoni.
Whatever you do, don’t go overboard. You want your guests to be able to see what’s on the board! If you add too many things, it will be a mosaic of indistinguishable food items. Did you make this recipe? I love hearing from you! Please comment and leave a 5-star rating below. You can also take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #oliviascuisine.
Looking for more easy party appetizers?
Prosciutto Puff Pastry TartBrie and Cranberry Vol au VentPuff Pastry Wrapped BrieHam and Cheese PinwheelsRoasted Garlic Baked RicottaCrudité PlatterHot Smoked Gouda Bacon DipBaked Camembert
