Cheese Christmas Trees • Easy Holiday Cheese Appetizer {Video} • Two Purple Figs

These Cheese Christmas Trees are not only the easiest holiday appetizer you can ever make, they’re also the prettiest! We coat the cheese in a blend of herbs, cranberries, nuts and rosemary for a festive holiday cheese appetizer. Make sure to try this, it’s so fancy and impressive!

This is one of the simplest, easiest ways to entertain this Holiday season. Cheese trees are super festive looking with absolutely minimal ingredients. And the best thing is they can be made in advance, plus you can customize them to your taste. So give this easy appetizer recipe a try.

Last week, we shared yet another festive appetizer, a Caprese Wreath. It’s also a no cook, make in advance Holiday recipe you will love! This one is is another no cook, tree shaped cheese appetizer that you can also make in advance. 

If you’re looking for show stopper Holiday appetizers, and holiday recipes, we got you. Try Cranberry Brie Bites, Potato Pancakes, Baked Brie Toast or Savory Hand Pies Also these Mini Cheese Ball Recipe and Antipasto In Salami Cups.

Ingredients You Need

• Cheese. We used the “laughing cow” or however wedge cheese you have. You can use Brie, cut up into wheels to have the same wedge shape. The wedge makes the perfect christams tree shape, so choose any cheese you like. Just make sure it’s a soft like texture so the toppings can stick easily.
• Pecans. In keeping with the holiday spirit, but you can use walnuts or almonds or pistachios.
• Cranberries. Adds sweetness and chew to the cheese trees. Dried figs would work great here as well!
• Herbs. Always welcoming herbs in our recipes as they burst the flavor and add so much freshness. Our favorite combined with sweet cranberries is fresh rosemary or thyme and parsley, or a combo of course.
• Lemon. We use lemon zest in the mixture for freshness, zest and bright lemon taste.
• Honey. Of course for sweetness and taste, but also honey helps the mixture stick better to the cheese.
• Salt and Pepper. Simple basic seasoning, nothing more is needed.
• Pretzel Sticks. Depending on the size of your cheese, you may need to cut each stick into half, which is what we did here. The saltiness  and crunch from the pretzel sticks adds a great contrast to the soft cheese and sweet topping.

How To Make Christmas Cheese Trees

Prepare The Cheese

1. To prepare the cheese, you need to make sure it’s well chilled ahead of time. If your cheese is too soft or warm, it will not hold its shape. And for this show stopping appetizer, we are looking for the christmas tree shape. 
   
2. If however you feel the cheese is too soft or you live in a warmer place (which we envy), you can roll the cheese into balls instead. Something like Mini Cheese Ball Recipe.
3. If you’re using a cheese that’s wrapped like the laughing cow, you need to remove all the wrappers before proceeding. 

Make the Seasoning Mixture

1. You’ll start by crushing the nuts. We have a mini processor which is super helpful here and we use it to blitz the pecans into small bits. You can likewise buy chopped pecans, but we prefer them slightly smaller. 
   

1. Use the same processor to also blitz the cranberries. You can equally mince them using a knife, but this trick saves you lots of time and effort! Plus it’s one bowl used for both nuts and fruit. 
2. Now you’ll use a shallow plate to mix the seasoning in. The shallow plates is easier for dipping the cheese in and having it stick compared to a deeper one. 
   
3. In the shallow plate, add the crushed nuts, cranberries, lemon zest, fresh herbs, salt, pepper and honey. 
4. Mix them together and it’s ready. 

Make the Cheese Trees

1. One at a time take the cheese wedge that’s chilled and dip one side into the shallow plate. Press it down slightly so that the toping sticks, but not too hard that the cheese crumbles. 
   
2. You can likewise, take some of the seasoning and use your fingers to press it on top of cheese instead of pressing the cheese into the plate. 
3. At that point, take half a pretzel stick or a full one, depending on the size of your cheese tree. Insert the pretzel at the base of the cheese wedge to look like the tree bark.
   
4. And there you have it! Festive, bright, tasty and perfect Cheese Christmas Tree! 
5. Repeat with the remaining cheeses and chill them until ready to serve. 
   

Tips for This Cheese Tree Appetizer

1. To save time it’s best to use a wedge shaped cheese, or a triangular one. That way you don’t have to worry about cutting the shape yourself. 
2. Chilling the cheese before pressing down the seasoning is KEY to the tree shape. Remove the cheese from the fridge only when the seasoning is ready, and when you’re ready to assemble. 
3. The flavors of the seasoning mixture are totally variable! You can use orange zest instead  of lemon, or with lemon. The types of herbs are up to you. Similarly the nuts or dried fruits. 
4. The seasoning can be prepared well ahead of time and kept in airtight container for 7 days in the fridge. We LOVE using leftover seasoning on salads as salad toppers.
5. If your pretzel sticks are too long, cut each into half to make the perfect size for the cheese trees. 
6. Avoid using toothpicks as it becomes tricky to eat.
7. The honey is great for sticking the seasoning and you can even drizzle some more over the cheese when ready.

How to Serve Cheese Trees?

Serve these cheese trees on their own or better yet, serve them in a charcuterie board. They’re perfect paired with deli meats, crackers, olives, more cheese and fruit.

What is the Best Type of Cheese To Make cheese trees?

• We used the “laughing cow” although we’re not fans of it, but we love the convenience of the shape and texture it offers. Plus with all the tasty seasoning we made, we felt it’s a completely different cheese!
• You can likewise use brie cheese. Cut the wheel into wedges and use the cut side soft cheese for dipping into the seasoning. 
• Finally, you can use cream cheese that you’ll need to shape yourself. 
• We tried using semisoft cheese like mozzarella, havarti and provolone cheese which we cut into wedges. To use those, we found that it’s best to brush on side of the cheese lightly with honey. Then take that side and dip into the seasoning mixture. That’s the only way for the seasoning to stick.

Can you make Cheese Tree Appetizer ahead of time?

YES! That’s one of the best things when planning for the Holidays! The seasoning mixture can be made 7 days in advance, and stored in a sealed container. You can buy the cheese and keep it in the fridge until ready to assemble. 

Once assembled, the cheese trees can be wrapped in the serving board and kept in the fridge for up to 3 days. Avoid any moisture going in to the serving board. That’s KEY to keeping them for so long. 

Variations on Cheese Trees

• Different Citrus. We love orange zest here as well, and it’s perfectly keeping with the holiday spirit. But we have a thing for the brightness that lemon adds, so ideally we would use a combo of both!
• Spicy. Add in chilli flakes or cayenne pepper for a spicy cheese appetizer! We didn’t use that today because we know kids LOVE these as well. You can however split them into half spicy and half not. 
• Change the nuts. Swap the pecans for pistachio for a Mediterranean twist to these. Use walnuts or almonds if you want a basic nutty taste. Or better off use a combo of nuts. 
• Dried fruits. If we could swap the cranberries, it would be for figs or dried peaches. Figs would be our choice for sure! They have an impeccable sweetness and delicate crisp texture from the seeds. But feel free to use your favorite!
• Sweetness. While honey is used here for sweetness and to help the seasoning stick, you can likewise use maple syrup. And even more, use some fig jam. Ok it’s clear we have a thing for figs, but I mean can you resist fig jam?!
  

Cheese Appetizers

Strawberry Goat Cheese Appetizer
Cheese Fondue with Dippers
Caprese Wreath
Cranberry Brie Bites
Baked Brie Toast with Cranberries
Savory Hand Pies With Strawberries
Watermelon Salad Wedges
Strawberry Caprese Salad