Simple Christmas Charcuterie Tree
Dress up your appetizer table with a festive and simple Christmas Charcuterie Tree. Here are more great Creative Christmas Ideas that will make your family’s celebration extra special!
This is so easy to make, that you can serve it for Christmas lunch with your family, enjoy it by yourself while you watch Christmas movies, or bring it to an Ugly Christmas Sweater Party!
It includes everything you love about charcuterie boards. The meat, cheese, fruit, and garnishes fill the decorative cutting board. It’s the perfect Christmas party snack or appetizer.
Are you going to a party? Are you hosting the party? Either way, this Christmas tree board deserves to be shown off! It looks like you spent hours recreating a Pinterest idea. Only, you didn’t. All you did was lay stuff in easy layers!
What Is A Charcuterie Board?
A charcuterie board is an appetizer that is usually served on a wooden board or stone slap. There are a lot of decorative cutting boards you can buy for each holiday too!
Charcuterie boards are creative ways to display and serve cured meat, cheese, fruit, and spreads. Some options to add are veggies, dips, crackers, or nuts to charcuterie boards. There is no right or wrong way to make one. Be creative!
How To Make A Charcuterie Christmas Tree
The entire recipe and the exact amounts of each ingredient are in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. If you’re a visual learner, here are some step-by-step pictures showing you how to make the charcuterie Christmas tree, from the bottom up!
Use Nuts As The Trunk
Since a tree’s trunk is brown, nuts are the obvious choice to be the bottom or base of the charcuterie Christmas tree. I used Pistachios because I love how woodsy the shells look. You can use walnuts instead of pistachios, especially if you are serving this at a party where there will be kids.
Cubed Cheese
The first layer of the tree should be the widest. I used cubed cheddar jack cheese since it’s the most popular type of cheese. Either buy the cheese cubed or try to cut them in equal sizes.
Place Fruit Next
The best way to make your board visually appealing is to use contrasting colors and textures on each layer. So, to go with the harder cheese, I used soft blackberries next. The stark differences in the colors is stunning!
Fold Salami
The next layer is meat. While you could just stand the meat up or layer it while it’s laying down, folding it gives it depth and dimension. If you are having trouble getting the meat to stand up and stay folded, add some toothpicks.
Shorter Layer Of White Cheese
We are still contrasting the colors and textures, so the next layer will be an exotic white cheese. Either slice it or cube it. Cubed cheese looks better on the board, but it’s up to you.
Green Olives
We all know that Christmas trees are green, but olives are not a popular choice. Not everyone likes them. So I added them to the shorter layer towards the top. The charcuterie board tree gets a pop of green color and doesn’t waste a lot of olives.
Top With A Cheese Star
Keep adding more layers until you reach the top of your tray. Don’t repeat the same type of meat or cheese. The fun thing about charcuterie boards is the variety of things you can taste and eat.
When you’ve reached the top of the tree, use a cookie cutter to cut out a large cheese star and a smaller one in a different color of cheese. It’s so easy!
Go through the board and add springs of fresh herbs and a few berries as decorations and to fill in any empty spots. The more full you make the board, the better it will look.
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Charcuterie Board Must-Haves
Here are the tools I used that made the charcuterie board a breeze! They are essential and it’s tough to make the board without them:
Christmas Appetizer Ideas:
Try some of these tasty bites for your holiday gathering! It’s always a good idea to have a selection of foods to serve with your Christmas tree charcuterie board…here are some favorites!
- Santa Charcuterie Board
- Easy To Make Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board
- Loaded Mashed Potatoes Appetizer Bites
- Jalapeno Cream Cheese Bacon Bites
- Layered Sun-Dried Tomato and Artichoke Spread
- Pesto Pinwheel Appetizer
- 40+ Holiday Appetizers, Drinks and Desserts
Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board
Equipment
- Wooden Cutting Board
- 1 Medium-Sized Star Cookies Cutter
- 1 Small-Sized Star Cookie Cutter
- Toothpicks
- Ramekin
- Small Jar of Honey
Ingredients
- 8 ounces Fontina Cheese cubed
- 8 ounces Colby Jack Cheese cubed
- 9 ounces Uncured Genoa Salami circle cut
- 6 ounces Pepperoni circle cut
- 1 cup Fresh Blackberries
- 1/2 cup Fresh Raspberries
- 1/2 cup Green Olives
- 1/4 cup Pistachios
- 1 slice Thin Cheddar Cheese for the star
- 1 slice Provolone cheese for the star
Garnish Options
- Raspberries
- 8-10 Rosemary Springs for tree branches
- 6-7 Fresh Dill for treen branches
- 1/2 cup Jam
Instructions
- Start at the base of your tree ( board ) with your colby jack cheese.
- Remember to leave room at the bottom of the board for your tree trunk.
- Start your second row of fresh blackberries, make sure this layer is slightly shorter than the first row.
- Take your salami and fold it in half and then fold it again into quarters.
- Stack all of your salami in a row, using toothpicks to hold them together.
- Place your third row of salami on the board, and make sure this layer is slightly shorter than the second row.
- Place your fourth row of cubed fontina cheese on the board, make sure this layer is slightly shorter than the third row. Place your fifth row of green olives on the board, make sure this layer is slightly shorter than the fourth row.
- Take your pepperonis and fold them in half and then fold it again into quarters, use toothpicks to hold them together.
- Place your sixth row of pepperonis on the board, make sure this layer is slightly shorter than the fifth row.
- Place your seventh row of cubed cheddar on the board, make sure this layer is slightly shorter than the sixth row.
- Lastly, add your fresh raspberries as your last row on the board, make sure this layer is slightly shorter than the seventh row. Use a medium-sized star cookie cutter and cut out the star on a thinly sliced provolone cheese.
- Place the star at the top of the tree.
- Use a small-sized star cookie cutter and cut out the star on a thinly sliced cheddar cheese.
- Place the cheddar star at the top of the provolone star, centered.
- Place rosemary and fresh dill stems between your layers for the Christmas tree look.
- Last, place the pistachios for the “trunk” of my tree! Also, add bread and crackers around the board.
- Decorate the tree with fresh raspberries as ornaments. In a small ramekin add your jam of choice.
- Place the ramekin of jam on the board.
Enjoy celebrating with family and friends this holiday season! This tree charcuterie board will wow everyone and couldn’t be easier to make!
Susan B
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