Perfect for Christmas or anytime during the winter, this Holiday Cheeseboard has got a little snowman theme and it’s filled with tons of tasty treats to keep all of your party guests happy!

This post is part of a sponsored week long event called #MerryEats, all opinions and words are 100% mine.

I’ve switched into the Holiday spirit around here and I couldn’t be happier.  Y’all that have been following my blog adventures for a while know that I love Halloween. However, since I became a mom this year, all I can think about is Christmas!

Not because of the presents but because of the Christmas events and traditions that Thomas and I now get to share with our son. I know that our little guy is super young right now and doesn’t know the difference in Christmas events and sitting at home snuggling with mom but they’re more magical for Thomas and I this year! 

Ok y’all, this post is PACKED with some great things!

• A recipe for homemade Vanilla Pear Butter
• Tips, Ideas and a list of what you need to put together a great Snowman Holiday Cheeseboard
• FREE Printables
• Holiday Giveaway

Rainier Pears sent me a beautiful box of Green Anjou Pears for the #MerryEats event and I had to really show some self control with these pears.

(Rainier Fruit grows more than Green Anjou Pears, they actually grows nine different varieties of pears: Asian pears, Bartlett, Bosc, Comice, Forelle, Green Anjou, Red Bartlett, Seckel, and Taylor’s Gold.)

These pears were so good that I wanted to eat all of them before I even worked on my recipe for the vanilla pear butter or set up my holiday cheeseboard.

One bite and I felt like I was a little kid again, grabbing a sweet pear to snack on in my parent’s kitchen. These Rainier pears were so ripe and sweet, just like a pear should be!

Did you know that pears ripen the best after they’ve been picked from the tree? It’s true! Pears stored at room temperature will ripen in a few days but if you want to speed up that process, place the pears in a paper bag with a ripe apple or banana!

So first, let me give you this awesome recipe for Vanilla Pear Butter! It’s great for smearing on flaky morning biscuits, wonderful on as a dip on a holiday cheeseboard and jars of it also make a perfect gift from the kitchen!

Vanilla Pear Butter Recipe

Now we’re moving on to this fun Snowman Holiday Cheeseboard!

I love cheeseboards like this and while they’re great for parties, I have to admit that I actually love to make these for dinner too.

Cheeseboard Theme

I picked a Snowman theme for this holiday cheeseboard so that it can be made throughout the entire Winter season but it’s oh so perfect for Christmas parties too!

When I was working on my idea list of which foods to feature on my cheeseboard I thought I’d stick with white and black snacks for the snowman theme. Then I thought that I might want a little pop of color.  That’s when I decided to add in a few pops of red with the raspberries and tomatoes.

To stay with the theme, add little elements of the theme with themed food picks and foods that are dressed up with the theme in mind.

I added snowmen food picks to some of the foods around my cheeseboard and I made chocolate covered snowman pears to decorate the tray with!

To make the chocolate covered snowman pears for decorating the cheeseboard:

Melt white chocolate until smooth. Dip a clean, dry pear into the chocolate and shake off the excess. Place pear onto a piece of parchment paper on a flat surface. Add 3 mini chocolate chips for buttons.

Let pears rest until chocolate hardens.

Picking out foods for a cheeseboard

What should you consider when picking out food for a holiday cheeseboard?

When you’re getting ready to decide on which foods to add to your cheeseboard here are a few things to think about:

Size

You want the foods you add to a cheeseboard to be bite sized. Guest will be grazing and grabbing food items as they mingle and chat. You don’t want something on the tray that needs to be sliced or chopped up by the guest. Have items on the tray that are easy to grab and eat with one hand as most guests will be holding a plate in one hand and eating with the other while socializing.

Type

Remember that your cheeseboard is going to be sitting out for a while, so choose foods that will still taste good after they’ve been sitting out for a while at room temperature. You wouldn’t want to add anything to the cheeseboard that will go bad or melt while sitting at room temperature for a while.

Variety

Pick a variety of snacks for your cheeseboard so that everyone at the party can enjoy the cheeseboard.  Cookies and vanilla pear dip are great for the sweet tooths of the bunch while the cheese cubes and salami are perfect for the savory lovers and the fruits & veggies are a great choice for those looking for a healthy bite!

 

What I put on this cheeseboard

(amounts vary depending on how many people you’re serving)

Down the middle

• Cranberry Sauce
• Pear Butter

Around the Tray

• Christmas Cookies
• Dried Cranberries
• Blackberries
• Pear “SnowBalls” (Rainier Green Anjou Pears scooped with a melon baller)
• Raspberries
• Parmesan Crisps 
• Cheese wrapped in Salami
• Black Olives
• Toasted Crackers
• Cubes of Jarlsberg Cheese
• NatureSweet Tomatoes

Setup

• When you’re ready to set up your cheeseboard line up any sauces or dips down the middle of the board and make sure to add little spoons  or spreaders.
• Pile up the rest of the snacks around the edges of the board.
• Add some fun tooth picks to a few pieces of food and then make sure to have toothpicks or tongs off to the side to help guest gather up their snacks for the evening.

I’ve got two little printable for y’all in this post.

• First, I’ve got a link to this super cute “Eat Drink and Be Merry” sign from Liz On Call. Liz designed all of these cute little printables for our #MerryEats event!

You can see all of her holiday printables here and print them out for FREE!

When I originally went out looking for things to add to this snowman holiday cheeseboard I was looking for snowman picks and I couldn’t find them anywhere! I found gingerbread man toothpicks, I founds Santa picks but no snowmen picks!

I decided to make my own, print them out and tape them to toothpicks for homemade snowman toothpicks! They’re pretty easy to make y’all.

Just download them, print them out on card stock, cut them out and then tape or glue them onto toothpicks. Then take those snowman picks and put them in different foods on the snowman cheeseboard.

Not only are they nice for people to use to grab cheese squares and pieces of fruit but they also bring the theme of the cheeseboard together.

Download the Snowmen heads here for FREE!

Check out all of the #MerryEats recipes and holiday entertaining tips by following the hashtag #MerryEats on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!

 

Giveaway time!

This giveaway will be going on all week for #MerryEats week! Just check out the giveaway below and follow the directions for your chance to win some awesome prizes!!

PRIZE DESCRIPTION:

#MerryEats Week Grand Prize
A holiday entertaining package that includes Cook’s Illustrated Holiday Cookbook and our very own Whitney Miller’s Modern Hospitality along with a host of serving dishes and seasonal minis from artist Nora Fleming. This serving ware is perfect for every holiday and entertaining event and her ceramic mini’s allow you to transform your serving dishes for every holiday. Value: $500

 

 

 

Visit Rainier Fruit on Social Media
Website: http://rainierfruit.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RainierFruit
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RainierFruit (@RainierFruit)
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/rainierfruit/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rainierfruit/ (@RainierFruit)
Hashtags: #WholesomeToTheCore and #RainierFruit

 

Visit Jarlsberg Cheese on Social Media
Website: http://www.jarlsberg.com/us
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JarlsbergUSA/

 

Visit NatureSweet™ on Social Media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NatureSweet
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nstomatoes
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nstomatoes/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/naturesweet/

 

Envy Apples 

Website: https://envyapples.com/en
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/envyapples
Twitter: https://twitter.com/EnvyApples
Instagram: http://instagram.com/envyapples
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/envyapples/

 

 

 

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