The Christmas Tree Board

If you're making a cheese board for your holiday gathering, why not go all out? Our Christmas Tree Board is the most festive way to feed your guests, with our favorite cheeses, meats, and accompaniments arranged into a colorful tree shape, complete with a pepper jack star. Every cheese was carefully chosen so you'll have a range of flavors, textures, and visual flair from top to bottom, with grapes representing strings of lights, blue cheese as snow, and Peppadew peppers as ornaments. This centerpiece spread is a simple way to make your Christmas party pop have your guests snackin' around the Christmas tree all evening long.

Featuring

prep time
25minutes
assembly time
30minutes
Serves
6people

preparation & ingredients

1/2 lb. Alp Blossom

1/2 lb. Maple Leaf Pepper Jack

1 ea. Firefly Farms Mountain Top, 6 oz.

1 ea. Vermont Creamery Herb Goat Log, 4 oz.

1/2 lb. Cossanella

1/2 lb. Rogue Creamery Smokey Blue

1 ea. Underground Meats Calabrian 3 Ways Salami, 2 oz.

1 ea. The Spotted Trotter Sliced Bresaola, 3 oz.

1 ea. Murray’s Fruit Preserves Mini Sampler

1 ea. Treat Spiced Almonds, 3.5 oz.

1 ea. Peppadews, 14 oz.

1 ea. Rustic Bakery Pistachio, Apricot, & Brandy Crisps, 5 oz.

Round Crackers

Red and green grapes, removed from the stem

Rosemary sprigs

Thyme sprigs

prep

Slice a small amount of the pepper jack into a star shape.

Slice the rest of the pepper jack into long, narrow triangles.

Slice the Cossanella into rectangles.

Slice the Alp Blossom into rectangles/squares (it's okay that the slices are different sizes, just keep them together so you can easily shingle later).

Slice the goat log into coins.

Crumble the Smokey Blue.

Cut the Mountain Top in half lengthwise (you'll only use half for the board, so you can save the other half for snacking).

Slice the salami into coins.

assembly

Step 1

On a clean surface where you want to serve your tree, place your pepper jack star, leaving plenty of room to build out the tree below it.

Step 2

Below the star, place a few smaller sprigs of rosemary, pointing up. Below the rosemary, place the Mountain Top cut side down, with the narrower part at the top. Then add a row of green grapes a little wider than the base of the Mountain Top, followed by a row of folded bresaola.

Step 3

Below the bresaola, add a few sprigs of rosemary and thyme—the ends of these should stick out a bit at the sides like branches. Next, add a row of red grapes, followed by a row of goat log coins, shingled.

Step 4

Below the goat log, add a row of green grapes, followed by a row of Drinks Biscuits (feel free to mix flavors in the row), again making the rows slightly wider each time. Arrange a couple rosemary sprigs to stick out of the sides below the biscuits, then add a row of red grapes. Below the grapes, shingle your Alp Blossom. Feel free to add an extra sprig of rosemary to fill in the side with the smaller slices of Alp Blossom.

Step 5

Below the Alp Blossom, add another row of green grapes, followed by a row of Rustic Bakery crisps, then a row of red grapes. Arrange sprigs of thyme and rosemary as desired to stick out at the edge. Then, add your rectangular slices of Cossanella, making sure the orange rind is facing up.

Step 6

Below the Cossanella, add a row of green grapes, then shingle your triangular slices of pepper jack. Tuck in sprigs of rosemary and thyme between the grapes and the pepper jack. Next, add a row of salami coins—this is the bottom of your tree.

Step 7

Create a neat rectangular pile of the spiced almonds coming down from the center of the row of salami—this is your trunk. Arrange the crumbles of blue cheese coming out from both sides of the trunk. These rows don't have to be very even—this is your snow, so it should look natural. Add your mini jams resting on the blue cheese, two on each side—these are your presents.