Christmas Tree Holiday Cheese Board
by This post may contain affiliate links.
A Christmas Tree Shaped Holiday Cheese Board is the most festive way to serve your favorite charcuterie, cheese & crackers during the holiday season! Entertaining is a breeze with this easy-to-make appetizer. It can be tossed together before a holiday party or dinner in just 10 minutes!
Ready to kick your Christmas party up a notch? This cheese board pairs perfectly with Cranberry Apple Moscow Mule Punch or Cranberry Apple Sangria!
Inspired by my friend Maegan’s new cookbook, Beautiful Boards, I set out to make my own festive cheese board this holiday season. After all, it is the season of cheer and nothing makes me more cheerful than a board full of cheese!
This Christmas Tree Shaped board is filled with a variety of cheeses, summer sausage and grapes. It’s then garnished with fresh rosemary and pecans. You can serve your favorite crackers, a sliced baguette or mason jar of breadsticks on the side.
It’s so easy to put together and you can make it as big or small as you like, based on how many people you’re serving. The measurements listed in this recipe will make a board perfect for 4-6 people. You can easily adjust the measurements accordingly for more or less people.
This cheese board is guaranteed to be a crowd pleaser during the holiday season. It’s festive, fun and filled with deliciousness!
Table of contents
How to make it
- Place a layer of red grapes along the bottom of a serving tray or cutting board.
- Add a layer of cubed cheese above the grapes.
- For this board, I used a white stilton with cranberries from Trader Joe’s.
- Place a layer of diced summer sausage above the cheese.
- Diced or sliced salami can also be used in it’s place, or an extra layer of grapes for a vegetarian board.
- Add a layer of cubed cheese above the summer sausage. Arrange the cheese so the row is slightly shorter than the row of summer sausage below it.
- I used Cabot Seriously Sharp Cheddar for this board.
- Place a few green grapes above the cubed cheese.
- For an extra cute finish, use a small star cookie cutter to make a cheese star for the top of the tree. You can also add a couple of stars on top of the sausage and red grapes.
- Slide 4-5 sprigs of rosemary under the meat, cheeses and grapes on each side of the board.
- Add 4 pecans to the bottom of the board to make the tree trunk.
- OPTIONAL: arrange crackers around the Christmas tree on the board or serve them in small bowls on the side. I served the board with thin and crispy breadsticks in mason jars on the side.
More cheeses to try
For this holiday cheese board, I like to use hard or semi-hard cheeses that are easy to cut into cubes. I recommend any of the following cheeses in place of, or in addition to, the cheddar and stilton used in this recipe.
- Gouda
- Blue Cheese
- Gorgonzola
- Gruyere
- Swiss
- Parmesan
- Provolone
- Asiago
- Manchego
Other fruit and vegetable options
If you’d like to swap out the grapes, or add additional fruits or veggies to the board, I recommend adding any of the following dried fruits, or fresh fruits and veggies.
- Instead of the green grapes, feel free to use:
- Diced green apples
- Diced pears
- Quick tip! For diced pears or apples, dip them in a 50/50 mixture of water and lemon juice before adding them to your cheese board to prevent browning.
- Peeled & sliced kiwi
- Sliced cucumbers
- Green olives
- Instead of the red grapes, feel free to use:
- Dried cranberries
- Dried figs
- Pitted dates – sliced in half
- Cherry Tomatoes
More appetizer recipes
Looking for more easy entertaining ideas for this holiday season? Check out these quick and simple appetizer recipes!
- Bacon Wrapped Dates
- Everything Bagel Cheese Ball – you can even make it into a super cute cheese ball snowman!
- Cheesy Garlic Bread Nachos
- Sausage Stuffing Balls
- Baked Brie Puff Pastry Bites
- Cranberry Goat Cheese Ball
Christmas Tree Shaped Holiday Cheese Board
Ingredients
- 1 cup red grapes
- 1 cup stilton cheese, cubed
- 1 cup summer sausage, cubed
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, cubed
- ½ cup green grapes
- 4 oz block cheddar cheese, to make cheese stars
- 10 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 4 pecans
Serving Options
- breadsticks
- crackers
- baguette, sliced
Instructions
- Place a layer of red grapes along the bottom of a serving tray or cutting board.
- Add a layer of cubed stilton cheese above the grapes.
- Place a layer of diced summer sausage above the cheese.
- Add a layer of cubed cheddar cheese above the summer sausage.
- Place the green grapes above the cubed cheddar cheese.
- For an extra cute finish, use a small star cookie cutter to make a cheese star for the top of the tree. You can also add a couple of stars on top of the sausage and red grapes.
- Slide 4-5 sprigs of rosemary under the meat, cheeses and grapes on each side of the board.
- Add 4 pecans to the bottom of the board to make the tree trunk.
- OPTIONAL: arrange crackers around the Christmas tree on the board or serve them in small bowls on the side. I served the board with thin and crispy breadsticks in mason jars on the side.
Notes
- Cheese Options – try any of these other recommended cheese options on this board:
- Gouda, Blue Cheese, Gorgonzola, Gruyere, Swiss, Parmesan, Provolone, Asiago or Manchego
Nutrition Facts
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
