How to Make a Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board
Is it too early to start thinking about entertaining at Christmas time with a festive charcuterie board? How would you like to learn to make a Christmas tree charcuterie board? If you don’t know where to start and need help with making a charcuterie Christmas tree board, check out our hints and tips.
So, how do you go about making a Christmas tree charcuterie board? Where should you start?
Do I Need a Christmas Tree Shaped Board?
No, you don’t. Make your Christmas tree shape with your food on your charcuterie board.
A Christmas tree shaped charcuterie board might be fun and unique but think about how many times you would use that board. Probably not enough times to justify having such a specific board. We like items that have more than one use.
That means for us we prefer using a rectangle or square charcuterie board. So, we create the Christmas tree look with our food. Check out our charcuterie Christmas tree board ideas to get started.
What Food Should I Include?
We start with the same type of food we use for any other time of the year. Our favorite meats, cheeses, fruit, olives, and nuts get included. Sometimes we have just used red and green, but that gets hard when you want to have more variety. We’ve found that it’s best to introduce some greenery as a garnish.
Since it is Christmas time, we add a few extra things. For instance, we might add a star-shaped sugar cookie as a topper to our tree. We might place a few pretzel sticks at the bottom to look like the trunk. Edible glitter always adds a festive touch.
Where Do I Buy Food for My Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board?
We like to shop at our local san diego farmers markets when buying food for our charcuterie boards. Most of the time we go to the RB farmer’s market.
If we need fresh produce in a hurry we like to shop at Sprouts, mainly for the convenience and organic selection of fresh fruit and veggies.
How Do I Place the Food?
First, we think about the shape of our Christmas tree. It’s basically a large triangle. So, start at the top. If you’re using a star-shaped cookie, you can always put that at the top when you have the rest of the food placed where you want it.
Here are some ideas to get you started.
- Start with cheese cubes at the top.
- Place a row of fresh grapes below them.
- Then add another row of cheese cubes
- Add a 2nd row of grapes
- Add a row of crackers. They can be any shape or size.
- Add a 3rd row of grapes
- In between each row add a line of fresh rosemary or place fresh rosemary around the perimeter of the tree.
This gives a greenery effect and makes your tree look more festive. Basically, we like to mix green and red in the layout of the tree.
We like to use rosemary as it smells nice and is organic in nature. We always use fresh herbs and greenery.
If you don’t have a charcuterie board you can use a stone or marble board.
Can I Make a Dessert Christmas Board?
Absolutely. We love to use more than one charcuterie board when we entertain. Why not have one for appetizers and one for desserts? Wow your guests with two festive boards.
What Food Should I Include For Desserts?
Since we love to make desserts, we aim for special ones at Christmas. We also like to make a variety of desserts. In order for our guests to be able to taste more than one dessert, we make mini versions. Small bites work well on a dessert charcuterie board, especially a Christmas one.
Here are some of our favorite ideas.
Cheesecake cut in tiny squares with a raspberry on top are pretty and easy to eat. Mini cream puffs are definitely a hit. Small, decorated Christmas cut-out cookies are a must. Add in some candied walnuts, dark chocolate espresso brownie bites, and white chocolate bark with dried cranberries.
Because we like some sparkle, something else we like to add is some mini foil-wrapped candies in a row. Alternate red and green with silver.
For us the bottom line is to have easy-to-eat desserts. Anything that is messy or requires too much silverware probably won’t make it on our dessert charcuterie board.
How Do I Place the Desserts?
We like to arrange the desserts like we arranged the regular charcuterie board. Again, it’s a basic triangle.
We carry the star theme by placing another star cut-out cookie at the top of the desserts. Arrange rows of dessert bites as you like. We alternate red, white, and dark.
Dip the pretzel sticks in chocolate to use as the tree trunk.
Other Things to Think About
We make sure there are enough utensils for our guests to serve themselves. Most of our food is definitely finger food.
Utensils are necessary for dishing up some of the food, so keep them close to the board. In addition have plenty of napkins handy.
We place our appetizer charcuterie board and our dessert one in two separate areas. This is best if you have the room.
Because we don’t want to run out of food on either board, we have extra food sliced and cut. Anything that should be refrigerated is on a plate or bowl in the refrigerator. Other food is on a covered plate handy for us to grab.
We like to serve drinks or wine with our charcuterie boards. Since we don’t want people to run into each other or create a bottleneck, we place our beverages in another place. That means we need a place for people to put their drink or wine glass when they are finished with it. We create a spot for dirty plates and glasses.
Make a Veggie Charcuterie Board
We like an excuse to use fresh vegetables any time. Check out the link in the title above or click on this link: “Make a Charcuterie Board with Veggies.” We tell you exactly how to prepare a colorful, creative charcuterie board with veggies. You can even make a Christmas tree charcuterie board with veggies.