Christmas Tree Charcuterie

This post is sponsored by The French Ministry of Agriculture, but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

Impress your guests with this Christmas Tree Charcuterie filled with gourmet cheeses, meats and crackers.  The perfect way to start any holiday or cocktail party this season and don’t forget the wine!

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Is there really anything better than the holiday season?  Yes, there’s this Christmas Tree Charcuterie board.

It’s typical when you walk into someone’s home on the holidays, there is probably a meat and cheese tray of some sort.  Might even be in a black box from the refrigerated section.  But hey, I’m not knocking you one bit as long as theirs cheese and wine, I’m a happy lady.

But what if this year, you made a stunning meat and cheese tray?  I’m going to show you how you can create a gorgeous, delicious and affordable Christmas Tree Charcuterie for all your holiday and cocktail parties this year!

I know what you are probably thinking.  It’s the holiday season and I just don’t have a lot of time and money to be crafty with my cheese board this year.   I promise, it’s super easy and affordable too.

Here are my tips

1. The serving tray-  Find a large serving board.  Now I love this charcuterie board for everyday serving if I wasn’t trying to craft a Christmas Tree Charcuterie but because you need a large surface area, choose a large cutting board like this.  It even has handles for carrying around.
2. The wines– Find and choose and variety of wines that will complement a wide variety of foods.  For this I chose George Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages 2015 and Georges Duboeuf Pouilly-Fuissé 2015.  First off, the labels are gorgeous.  They’re simple yet elegant.  The Gamay (red) is going to run you about $12 where the chardonnay is a little pricier but still affordable at around $20-$25.  Both of these wines are from France.
   1. George Duboeuf Beaujolais-Villages 2015 has notes of bright juicy cherries and raspberries, a smooth velvety mouth feel and a touch of cinnamon on the finish. 
   2. Georges Duboeuf Pouilly-Fuissé 2015 has aromas of roasted almonds, peach and pear on the nose lead to a wine that’s beautifully structured with flinty minerality and a long-lasting finish. 

1. The Meat and Accompaniments– Head to Aldi (and no, Aldi isn’t paying me to say this.)  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Aldi is amazing.  They’re variety and quality of their foods in the last several years has drastically improved.  Not to mention, it’s more affordable than regular grocery store chains.  I dare you to try it and not love it.  When I was at Aldi, I picked up starting from the bottom of the tree; baguette, cheese rosemary crackers, the wafer crackers and red pepper jelly.  Next row up (still all purchased at Aldi); pepper salami, hot cpapcolloe, bite size salami and hot calabrese.  I wanted to purchased proscuitto but they didn’t have any.  Next row up; blue cheese stuffed olives and finally at the top, pineapple jalapeno jelly.  All of that was purchased at Aldi for around $20.  Find that cheaper at another grocery store.
2. The Cheeses– This time around, I went with a variety of soft cheeses from France to pair well with the wines.  I choose:
   1. Saint-André cheese which is a brand of French triple crème cow’s milk cheese.  It’s known as “the heavenly cheese” and is as rich as pure butter.
   2. Saint-Agur cheese which is a unique and intense Blue cheese with a smooth buttery finish and  rich in butterfat (double crème).
   3. Ile de France goat cheese.  This cheese has a dense yet rich texture, with fresh aromas, slightly salty and tangy notes.

To assemble, I just started at the bottom of the board and added some walnuts for a tree truck.  Placed some rosemary for trees branches and cranberry for decorate “ornaments”

I lined everything up in a row and gradually got smaller until the star of the tree (hence why I used the pineapple jelly for the yellow “star.”)

As people started to graze on the charcuterie board, i just replenished when things needed to be filled.

This Christmas Tree Charcuterie board turned out better than I had imagined.  It’s festive, delightful and a conversation piece at your next holiday gathering.

Oh, and don’t forget the stemless wine glasses, cheese knives and decorative plates for serving.

Stay tuned I’ve got a recipe coming up with the Ile de France brie cheese.

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