How to make a Christmas Tree Cheese Plate

Every Christmas we skip the traditional dinner and make cheese and cold cut platters, sandwiches, and veggie plates in the tradition of my husband's family. Cheese and meat arranged into shapes is one of the best things ever! This Thanksgiving, we made a turkey shaped cheese plate and I thought, you know, that would be super cute for Christmas too. Well, not a turkey! Since I am working really hard to stay on a paleo diet, I had to make sure there were options for me on these holiday cheese plates. Here's how I accomplished that with this Christmas Tree Cheese Plate:

How to make a Christmas Tree Cheese Plate:

Gather the ingredients for the cheese plate. Since we wanted to go a more paleo friendly route, we chose to use apples instead of crackers and includes nitrate free meats. Cheese is not paleo-compliant so I will be skipping the cheese when I eat this Christmas Tree Cheese Plate on Christmas Day. You can add crackers if you like but we wanted to keep the menu gluten-free for our party.

The cranberries are sweetened and not paleo compliant. Use raisins, sun-dried tomatoes, or nuts instead for a more paleo-friendly platter. Since my family is coming over, we wanted to have the same traditional flavors they'd all enjoy too.

If you love cheese, check out this Piñata Cheese Ball recipe made with goat cheese. It's got a special surprise INSIDE!

Here's what you'll need to make this Christmas Tree Cheese Plate:

• assorted sliced cheese
• assorted nitrate-free uncured meats
• sliced apples
• dried fruit or nuts
• large platter

Form the trunk of the tree with several cheese slices. Then all the bottom layer of “leaves” using salami. Make sure the salami lies in a slight curve and extends all the way to each end of the platter. Add alternating rows of apples, cheese, and meat to the tree, making each row slightly shorter than and overlapping the previous row. At the top of the tree, place an array of sliced apples splayed out at the bottom end.  Add a small pile of dried fruit to make a “star”. You can also use a cookie cutter to cut a star from cheese. Add rows of dried fruit to mimic a garland. Serve and enjoy!

Are you entertaining at home this holiday? Let me know all about your plans in the comments!