Yes Diamonds, this is Christmas themed, BUT aside from that you can recreate this board any time, any day of the year! You can change out the winter herbs, and my orange marmalade Christmas tree for edible flowers, and a strawberry preserve heart for Valentines day, or whatever season or holiday you are making your board for. It IS that easy!! Just changing a few things when creating a board or platter of any kind immediately remodels one theme into another, in a matter of a couple steps! I’ve made many charcuterie boards this past month. Some were gigantic and some were small. Some were spicy, and some were mild and sweet. However, what they all had in common were their own uniqueness, and charm about them. No two boards in the world will ever look alike even if you use the same product on each, and that’s what I love so much about the art of board making. It really is an art!
Everything that is loaded on this luxurious board:
I’ll first begin by explaining this little edible Christmas tree!
Of course the tree shaped bowl itself is not edible, but everything inside of it is! I took the opportunity to make the shape resemble an actual decorated tree that you keep inside of your homes during the holiday season. I think it came out adorable! 🙂
What’s inside?
- I filled the inside of the tree with orange marmalade. Then, to mimic ornaments like on a real life decorated Christmas tree I adorned it with dried mixed berries. I love the pop of color it gave next to the sweet orange jam. Marmalade is one of my favorite fruit spreads because I believe it goes with all seasons very well, and I enjoy the peel that floats all throughout it! It gives it such a strong flavor in such a wonderful way.
- I topped our little edible tree off with a tiny donut cracker to imitate a star at the tippy top of a Christmas tree.
- Right under the bowl I placed fresh sprigs of rosemary and sage to act like branches for greenery!
All the meats I adorned the board with:
- Thin slices of salty sopressata that I created to look like a rose!
- Fresh kielbasa sliced from a local deli.
- Pepperoni rings because I just love pepperoni and cheese paired with a cracker. Always have, always will.
Speaking of cheese and crackers! Here they are:
Cheese:
- Smoked mozzarella
- Loaded black pepper cheddar
- Date swirled cheddar.
Crackers:
- Teeny tiny donut crackers that taste very similar to a those hard breadsticks that you can often get served at those old time mom and pop Italian restaurants.
- Squared crostini crackers infused with olive oil.
Accompaniments:
Olives:
I have two types of olives combined inside of the white bowl.
- Blue cheese stuffed olives
- Jalapeno stuffed olives.
Stuffed olives are by far my favorite olives even though I will never turn down an olive of any kind! I love them so much and how exquisitely they pair with cheese, meats, and other goodies that you would normally fill a charcuterie board with. I do feel as though it would be difficult for me to make a board without filling a decorative bowl with olives!
Nuts:
- Peanuts! Kickin’ peanuts to be exact! These peanuts are my absolute favorite peanuts from the same local deli that I purchased my kielbasa at.
- You could definitely make these on your own of course! All you have to do is melt 1/2 stick of butter and toast your peanuts in a pan. Then, season with seasoned salt, lots of black pepper, paprika, chili powder, a pinch of cayenne pepper, and a dash of crushed red pepper flakes.
As the final step for garnishing, I used fresh sprigs of thyme leaves.
- You Diamonds already know that I can’t leave you hanging without a good garnish happening in my food creations! That would just be totally unacceptable! Sometimes my boards are large enough for a party of fifty, but this board is just the right size to set right on top of the coffee table in front of the family while you’s watch a movie or have game night! A charcuterie board is honestly on my list of top five favorite things in this world to indulge in and I’m sure it’s not far from the top of your lists as well.
Deepfrieddiamonds 