This Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board is so festive and fun to make. It's a great appetizer to bring to a Christmas party. Plus, no baking or cooking involved! Just organize these Christmas finger foods and it's ready to go!
My absolute favorite thing about Charcuterie boards is that you can buy a bunch of meats, cheeses, fruits, and nuts and organize it into a creative masterpiece. I always try to look for a variety of colors that match the current season. In this board, I brought in some fresh rosemary to make it look like an actual tree.
This Charcuterie Christmas tree only took me about 5 to 10 minutes to put together. It's great to make at home, wrap in a ton of plastic wrap and bring it to a Christmas party, or even easier, keep it at home for guests to graze on. Try these cute Christmas Tree Pretzels too!
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Why You'll Love This Recipe:
- No cooking or baking involved.
- It's super easy to throw together a beautiful board in less than 10 minutes.
- There is something for everyone to snack on, no matter what their dietary restrictions are.
- It becomes a place of conversation, which is always a win!
If you are looking for more holiday party appetizers, check out these Cream Cheese Stuffed Sweet Peppers, Air Fryer Turkey Burger Sliders, Nutella Puff Pastries, and Cowboy Caviar.
Ingredients:
*The ingredients on the Charcuterie Board are totally up to you, but here are some hints on how to choose.
Cheese: One of the main parts of a meat and cheese board. I typically choose 2-3 kinds on a charcuterie board, but with a tree, there is limited room. I used cheddar here, because it was a good color for the star. The star turned out pretty ugly, so if you have a star cookie cutter, I highly recommend. I used a knife to cut mine, and the tips of the star kept breaking off. Also, you could just top it with one of the chessman cookies.
Meat: The other main man here is meat. I went simple and bought a charcuterie trio by Boar's Head, which has Salami, Sopressata and Capocollo. These are used on the outside of the charcuterie board, but you can certainly use them as a layer in the tree too.
Nuts: You gotta have them. I used pecans, but pistachios, almonds, walnuts or cashews are all great.
Olives: A traditional component in most boards. I love a combo of green and kalamata olives.
Fruit: Use fruits in season for Charcuterie boards. It's fresher and cheaper, so why not? Clementines and pomegranate are in season in the Winter and offer beautiful color to the board. Grapes peak season is in August through October, but they seem pretty holiday-ish to me.
Sweets: A nice addition if you can squeeze them in. A Pepperidge Farm Chessmen Cookie was used for the tree trunk and chocolate peppermint pretzels for a Christmas touch for the bottom layer.
Crackers: Perfect for eating alongside meat and cheese.
*See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to Make a Salami Rose:
Materials & Ingredients needed: One wine glass and about 12 slices of salami.
Take the first salami piece and fold over the rim of the wine glass, with the rim dividing the slice in half. Move to the next slice and overlap the first slice just a bit. Complete the circle.
For the next row, center each slice in between the two on the bottom row and continue for 3-4 layers. *the video makes it click a little better.
*This is not my video, but a great reference.
How to Make a Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board:
For the tree trunk, add one cookie or whatever you choose. Pretzel sticks work great here too.
Next, begin the largest bottom layer. This is a great spot for sweets. Build upwards making each layer a bit less wider than the one before it, to form a Christmas tree.
Top with a star, by cutting it out with a knife (a bit tricky), or use a cookie cutter. Easiest way is to just use a chessmen cookie bell.
Add the rosemary sprigs along the outside of the tree.
For the meats on the outside, fold them up however you would like. The salami rose is always a favorite too.
That's it! Be creative and have fun.
Expert Tips:
- Anything with liquid, make sure it is very dry before placing it. For example, with olives, make sure to let them dry on a paper towel before adding them to the board.
- The easiest way to transport a board, to a party for example, is to plastic wrap around them several times until every spot is covered. Have someone help you to pull the plastic wrap under the board and keep the same plastic sheet going. Keep it tight to the board. When you arrive at the party, you can rip or cut it off.
For more crowd pleasing Christmas Appetizers, try these Goat Cheese Crostini, Garlic Butter Baked Brie, and Mini Meatballs.
Recipe FAQs:
The possibilities are endless. A good guide is to have a few cheese choices, a few meats (think salami, prosciutto, capocollo, pepperoni), nuts, olives, fruit that is currently in season, some sort of cracker or triscuits, potentially a spread like jam or cheese, and a type of sweet (chocolate, cookies, or chocolate covered pretzels).
1. Keep the meats surrounded by cheese, nuts and maybe olives. Don't have the meat touching veggies or fruit.
2. Do not use anything that turns brown. For example, apples and pears aren't the best choices for fruit.
3. In Summer, it is great to use fresh berries, but they tend to let fruit juices out. Put them in a bowl on the board, so it doesn't compromise foods around them.
4. If you are running out of room, put the crackers or pretzels in a bowl on the side instead of on the actual board.
5. Serve toothpicks or small forks and knives on the side to avoid people touching everything.
Whatever you have leftover, store in containers in the fridge or in sandwich bags, so you can keep on snacking, instead of wasting.
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Recipe
Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 12 servings 1x
Description
This Christmas Tree Charcuterie Board is so festive and fun to make. It's a great appetizer to bring to a Christmas party. Plus, no baking or cooking involved! Just organize these Christmas finger foods and it's ready to go!
Ingredients
- 1 Pepperidge Farm Chessmen Cookie (or use pretzel sticks)
- 1 and ½ cups of chocolate covered pretzels with peppermint
- 3 clementines, peeled and pulled apart into slices
- 1 tablespoon of pomegranate arils
- 1 cup pecans
- 8 ounces of cheddar cheese, used to cut the star out and remaining cheese cut into pieces for layering on board)
- 1 cup red grapes
- ½ cup green and kalamata olives
- 4 rosemary sprigs (optional for decoration)
- 1 sleeve of townhouse crackers
- Boars head Charcuterie trio (6 ounce package) *Salami and Sopressata used for the rose and Capocolla for the folded pieces on the top of the board.
Instructions
- For the tree trunk, add one cookie or whatever you choose. Pretzel sticks work great here too.
- Next, begin the largest bottom layer. This is a great spot for sweets. Build upwards making each layer a bit less wider than the one before it, to form a Christmas tree.
- Tip: Anything with liquid, make sure it is very dry before placing it. For example, with olives, make sure to let them dry on a paper towel before adding them to the board.
- Top with a star, by cutting it out with a knife (a bit tricky), or use a cookie cutter. Easiest way is to just use a chessmen cookie bell.
- Place the rosemary sprigs along the outside of the tree shape.
- For the meats on the outside, fold them up however you would like. The salami rose is always a favorite too. (There is a video in the post above for instructions)
- Be creative and enjoy!
Equipment
Notes
Make sure to dry off any wet ingredients, like fruit or olives, before placing them on the board.
Don't put meats close to fruit or sweets. Try to place them near olives, nuts or cheese.
Save any extra ingredients to refill once eaten!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Appetizers
- Method: no cook
- Cuisine: American
Holly says
Such a hit at the Christmas party! Love this one!
Tara Smithson says
Yay! It was a hit at mine too. Such a fun one!