Smarty Cooking School: How To Make A Perfect Holiday Cheese Board

Food friends, I really can’t make a perfect anything over here with my five kids running all over the place, so How To Make a Perfect Holiday Cheese Board is a totally aspirational title! But, in all seriousness, I’ve never encountered a cheese board I didn’t love, so every cheese board is basically a perfect cheese board, right?

Cheese, veggies, fruit, crackers. Anything your heart desires – and your kids will eat – can be on your perfect holiday cheese board. Cheese boards are great for holiday entertaining – or instead of dinner. True confession. The cheese board I photographed for this piece was actually dinner for my kids. All the major food groups are covered – fruits, veggies, dairy, protein, carbs, healthy fats … Perfection.

I always have a few standbys on my cheese boards – baby carrots and grapes are always a big hit with kids and adults. Apples, since we are so close to apple country here in North Carolina, are an absolute must! Apples pair well with any cheese or salami, or they are perfect all by themselves.

I am a huge olive fan – as are my kids – so I like to hit the olive bar at my local Harris Teeter and choose a few different varieties. If you are trying to focus on a certain region – Greece, for example, look for olives from Greece and add some stuffed grape leaves to your cheese board. For a cheese board with a Spanish theme, look for Spanish olives, and add some Marcona almonds, delicious manchego cheese, and slices of Iberico ham or chorizo.

If you want to embrace all things North Carolina, you can create a completely local cheese board with nothing but goodies from the Queen City and surrounding counties. Ashe County cheeses can be found at Mecklenburg County Market, Chef Alyssa makes a tomato jam that will wow your guests, local nuts and fruits can be gathered at your favorite Saturday morning market, beautiful baguettes from Duke’s Bread, and local pickles could round out a beautiful cheese board with a local theme.

A perfect holiday cheese board can be put out for sharing while the holiday turkey is in the oven and your friends and family are getting a little hungry, or it can be the center of attention at an evening cocktail party. The best part of a perfect holiday cheese board is that you can’t mess it up.