Dec 26, 2018

My Christmas Cheese Platter and Charcuterie Tray

I have an obsession with cheese. So when my husband said that he wanted a cheese tray for Christmas eve when friends and family come over for their gifts, I almost instantaneously said, " why not a cheese/charcuterie platter?

Growing up as a child, I never really had much liking for cheese. Growing up however, and having the opportunity to travel different countries, I've learned to love cheese and learn various kinds of cheeses. At home, we always have at least three kinds of cheese in the friends because hey, you guessed it right! My husband loves cheese too!

I find that it adds an extra bit of oomph to everything. And while it's great in recipes and between slices of bread, what makes my heart swoon, whenever I see one, is a cheese platter! Fancy cheese platters means that I can make cheese into a whole meal and in my books, nothing could be better. Plus, if when I think of fruits and veggies with some tasty meat what could go wrong?

Fancy cheese platters and charcuterie trays are very easy to put up and you can use your imagination to create one. You can create and go fancy with it and put whatever you want.

Here's my cheese board/charcuterie platter and I'm happy how it turned out.

If you want a bit more rigidity, try to have some from each category-cheese, salty, sweet, cracker-y and sauce-y. Or don't. Seriously, you don't have to over think if you don't want to. In fact, the messier, more rustic and less organized a cheese board is, the more beautiful I think it is. I didn't slice my cheese all the way because honestly, I think it looks more fun that way. And part of the fun of eating a cheese board is getting to nibble on lots of different flavors and textures. You can also opt to add some prosciutto, salami and sausages. I also stuffed olives in a separate bowl and some dips. Olives are polarizing. If someone loves them, they will be happy to see them but if not, they're contained on a small bowl by themselves. I also like to add some roasted and flavored nuts, too! It's nice to just be able to grab a few crunch.

Add something salty

Dried and fresh fruits are the way to go to satisfy the sweet factor here. A fruit you like or have in hand would work.

Add some crackers

I like to use a mix of crackers just because it's fun but use whatever makes you happy. I just pile them on the board wherever there's space for them. They look pretty and they're fun to snack on.

Add condiments

Condiments are a really fun addition to a charcuterie. Some of my favorite options are honey, fancy mustards, jams dips and preserves. This is really a good excuse to use all those little gift jars of jams that people have gifted you.

Adding something salty

Something salty will balance out the sweetness of the other stuff you put in your board. I put some olives stuffed with spicy filling.

Fill spaces

This is what will make your cheese board and charcuterie look amazing. Fill in all the empty spaces. I like to do it with little clusters of grapes. They fill in all the nooks and cranny perfectly and they're the perfect size for someone to grab and just eat a few grapes. I also use cherry tomatoes sometimes and it does the trick perfectly!