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You are here: Home / Sweets / Holiday Dessert Cheeseboard

Holiday Dessert Cheeseboard

December 12, 2018 By Spices in My DNA 2 Comments

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This Holiday Dessert Cheeseboard is filled with a variety of different cheeses, chocolate, cookies, and holiday themed treats! This is such a perfect spread to put together for guests this holiday season, and it has a little something for everyone! The sweet and savory combination is always such a crowd pleaser!

(This post is sponsored by Chocolove! Thank you so so much for reading and supporting the brands that I love!)

Overhead shot of a chocolate and cheeseboard filled with cookies, chocolate bars, crackers, cheeses, pomegranate, chocolate covered pretzels, candy canes, and assorted nuts

Dessert cheeseboards are just so much fun! They’re one of my favorite ways to entertain because it’s super unique and different, everyone always goes crazy over it, and I’m such a savory/salty person more than I am a sweets person, and this way I can have a little bit of both! Plus, this is pretty much the most festive thing ever and it makes my heart happy. If anything gets me into the Christmas spirit more than I already am, it’s this board!

Overhead shot of a chocolate and cheeseboard filled with cookies, chocolate bars, crackers, cheeses, pomegranate, and assorted nuts

And trust me, it’s EASY to put together. And most importantly, super fun! It’s something you can have sitting out during a party, or after dinner for a more “snack dessert” idea that people can pick at as they please!

For this, I used a lot of store-bought candies and cookies, but you can certainly fill it in with homemade treats, like these healthy nutella sea salt truffles or these brown butter chocolate cranberry walnut cookies. Both SO good! These stuffed dates would be a delish addition too!

So many options.

Overhead shot of the beginnings of a cheeseboard with crackers, white chocolate peppermint covered pretzels, candy canes, and gingerbread men cookies

To start out, you’ll want to place your cheeses and larger items around the board first. Things like bowls of nuts, bigger candies, chocolate bars, etc. It creates a good foundation to work off of, and you can fill in the gaps with anything and everything you want!

For this board, I used assorted nuts, crackers, fresh cranberries (not for eating but just to make it pretty!), fresh pomegranates, chocolate peppermint covered cookies, gingerbread men cookies, white chocolate peppermint covered pretzels, Chocolove chocolate bars of course, an assortment of Chocolove peanut butter cups, hazelnut butter cups, caramel filled cups, and almond butter cups. And you can find all of their delicious cups here!

I also used some of their amazing candies, like their dark chocolate almond toffee, dark chocolate covered pretzel bites, and dark chocolate salted almonds, which you can find here. They’re all so incredible. And addicting!

Overhead shot of two chocolate bars wrapped in a red wrapper surrounded by chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate, and gingerbread men cookies

I used the red chocolate bars to make the board extra festive for the holidays, but you can totally use whatever you want, and switch it up based on the holiday! This is the Thanksgiving board I made last month!

Close up shot of a cheeseboard surrounded by chocolate and treats, with hands spreading some cheese on a cracker

And for the cheeses, I like to include a variety. I’d say 4-5 cheeses is plenty for a larger crowd, and 3 is great for a smaller get-together.

For this board, I used my favorite cheese ever – the syrah soaked toscano from Trader Joe’s, a manchego (always a crowd pleaser), a delicious cranberry stilton, a cranberry spice spreadable cheese, and a triple creme brie.

Overhead shot of a cranberry cheese surrounded by red crackers, gingerbread men, pistachios, peppermint chocolate candies, and a dark chocolate bar

With this assortment, you have a little bit of everything, from softer cheeses like the brie and stilton, to the harder toscano and manchego, and then the fun extra – the cranberry and spice. This is a great balance, but you can certainly mix and match with your favorites! There are no rules here!

And how could I possibly forget – glasses or shots of Baileys or Irish cream on the rocks are SO much fun to add to the board.

Overhead close up shot of a bowl of mixed nuts surrounded by white chocolate peppermint covered pretzels, pomegranate, chocolate, pistachios, cookies, and a glass of irish cream on the rocks

Another thing I love to add is an assortment of nuts. I used pistachios here because they’re green and festive, but I also included this rosemary sea salt nut mix. I think having a couple of options here is great, and candied nuts would be a delicious addition to go with the sweeter dessert theme too!

Overhead shot of a chocolate and cheeseboard filled with cookies, chocolate bars, crackers, cheeses, pomegranate, and assorted nuts

To make this extra extra festive, I added mini ornaments, string lights, and some fresh holly. This is completely 100% optional, but totally fun if you have the time!

The most important components are obviously the cheeses (and making sure you have a variety), the Chocolove chocolate of course, cookies, assorted nuts, and whatever other add-ons you want!

There’s really no wrong answer here!

Close up shot of a cheeseboard surrounded by chocolate and treats, with hands spreading some cheese on a cracker

This festive spread just makes me so happy!

If you make it this season, be sure to tag me on Instagram and hashtag #spicesinmydna so I can see all of your beautiful creations! Nothing makes me happier.

Overhead shot of a chocolate and cheeseboard filled with cookies, chocolate bars, crackers, cheeses, pomegranate, chocolate covered pretzels, candy canes, and assorted nuts
5 from 1 vote
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Holiday Dessert Cheeseboard

This Holiday Dessert Cheeseboard is filled with a variety of different cheeses, chocolate, cookies, and holiday themed treats! This is such a perfect spread to put together for guests this holiday season, and it has a little something for everyone! The sweet and savory combination is always such a crowd pleaser!

Course Appetizer, Dessert, Dessert/Snack, Snack
Keyword dessert cheeseboard
Prep Time 30 minutes
Author Molly | Spices in My DNA

Ingredients

  • syrah soaked toscano cheese*
  • white stilton with cranberries*
  • triple creme brie
  • cranberry spice spreadable cheese*
  • manchego cheese
  • your favorite crackers
  • white chocolate peppermint covered pretzels*
  • dark chocolate and milk chocolate covered pretzels
  • gingerbread men cookies
  • chocolate peppermint candies
  • any other cookies or holiday treats!
  • assorted nuts*
  • Chocolove bars
  • Chocolove cups
  • Chocolove gourmet candy bars
  • fresh pomegranates
  • fresh cranberries*
  • glasses or shots of Bailey's or any Irish cream on the rocks!

Instructions

  1. Start by placing the cheeses on your board, then any bowls of nuts or small plates of cookies, then arrange the crackers, gingerbread men, and chocolate covered pretzels around it, and then fill in with the chocolate bars, chocolate cups, and chocolate candies. Then fill in all of the smaller spaces with the nuts, pomegranate, cranberries, baked treats, glasses of Irish cream, and whatever other add-ons you like!

Recipe Notes

*I find the syrah soaked toscano cheese and white stilton with cranberries at Trader Joe's! Sartori also makes an incredible merlot soaked bellavitano cheese which is very similar and another favorite of mine!
*The cranberry spice cheese is a seasonal cheese made by Boursin - I can find it at the grocery store this time of year only. It's so good!
*I get the white chocolate peppermint covered pretzels from Trader Joe's and same goes for the rosemary sea salt nut mix! Use your favorites here!
*I just use fresh cranberries to fill in gaps and make it pretty - they're too bitter to eat plain, but you could sub sweetened dried cranberries here if you want!

Overhead shot of a bowl of mixed nuts surrounded by white chocolate peppermint covered pretzels, pomegranate, chocolate, pistachios, cookies, and a glass of irish cream on the rocks

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Filed Under: Appetizers, Sweets Tagged With: appetizer, cheeseboard, chocolate, dessert, dessert cheeseboard, easy, entertaining, holiday recipe

Previous Post: « Mascarpone Stuffed Dates with Orange, Pistachio, and Pomegranate
Next Post: The Best Holiday Sangria Recipe »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Virginia

    December 16, 2018 at 10:29 am

    5 stars
    This is really beautiful – thanks for sharing it! Do you have one enormous piece of marble that you put all this on, or do you just lay it all right on the countertop? Thanks again.

    Reply
    • Spices in My DNA

      December 17, 2018 at 8:17 am

      Thank you so much! I have a big board that I use for food photography, but sometimes I use a couple larger cheeseboards and put them together! Or, you can totally just put it right on the countertop! Let me know if you try it out!

      Reply

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Welcome! I'm so happy you're here. This is the space where I share healthy recipes with a sprinkle of indulgence mixed in! I’m wildly passionate about food, and I grew up in a family of foodies. I was surrounded by it from an early age and immediately fell in love. I love to share super flavorful, unique, and healthy recipes, as well as indulgent, comforting meals we all need from time to time!

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