Epic Cheese Board Ideas: Best Cheese & Cracker & Fruit Platter Ever!
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Do you always hover over the cheese platter? Follow this amazing formula to create an epic cheese board every time!
I’m obsessed with cheese! Given the difficult choice of cheese versus chocolate, I choose cheese! The good cheese, of course :) The fancy cheese! And what’s the best food for a cheese lover? The cheese platter, of course! All those magic combos just make me drool!
Cheese and olives? Yes! Sweet & hot peppers? Yes! A few almonds? Yes! Cheese and grapes? Yes, yes, yes! Brie and fig jam on a cracker? Give me more!
Do your cheese platters never end up looking Instagram-worthy? Just some sad chunks of cheese and a few grapes and crackers? If you follow my cheese board formula, YOUR next cheese platter will look amazing – you won’t believe that you just made this :) Best of all, it’s super easy! As a former computer programmer, I like systems and routines, and making a cheese platter is no exception. My 3 x 3 x 3 formula below produces an epic cheese platter every time!
How To Make An Epic Cheese Board
What you need for cheese platter:
- 3 kinds of cheese
- 3 kinds of sweet things
- 3 kinds of savory things
- crackers
- serving board
Cheese ideas:
To make an interesting cheese tray, use cheeses of different colors and textures. Yellow and white cheese, spreadable, soft and hard cheese – variety rules! I like to stick to crowd-pleasing cheeses – you can save the weird cheese for yourself and for those who you know will appreciate it :) Cheddar, Brie and Monterey Jack are some examples of the cheeses that most people like. Cheese should be served at room temperature, so leave it out for at least an hour before serving.
Sweet things ideas:
Fresh fruit and jam are the sweet part of the cheese platter. Cheese goes really well with most types of fruit, the most well known being grapes! Grapes and cheese are awesome together! Other great fruits to go with cheese are strawberries, dates, figs and pears. My favorite type of jam to go with cheese is the fig jam – it’s amazing! Orange marmelade goes really well with cheese too, and honey does as well.
Savory things ideas:
For your savory ingredients, you can use coldcut meats like salami and proscuitto, or things like nuts, seeds, olives, marinated peppers and pickles. Just pick your favorite three and scatter them around the cheese platter!
Crackers:
When it comes to cheese board crackers, the thinner the better. The crackers shouldn’t overpower the cheese! Best crackers are usually found in the gourmet supermarket cheese sections. In a pinch, Ritz crackers will work too.
Serving board:
Your cheese platter looks as good as your serving board. Don’t skimp on this one! Use a wooden board, marble cheese board or a slate cheese board – a good looking serving board takes the cheese tray to a whole new level!
Arranging the cheese platter ingredients:
First, put the crackers on one side of the board. Line them up on the edge so they don’t take too much space. Put the 3 cheeses on different sides of the board. You can have the cheese in a wedge form, or pre-slice it. If you are serving the whole wedge, don’t forget to put cheese knives for slicing. Next, arrange your savory ingredients. Finally, fill the gaps with the sweet ingredients. You can put some sweet and savory ingredients in little serving dishes, and others directly on the platter. Once the whole board is filled, your epic cheese platter will come together!
Epic Cheese Board
Ingredients
Cheeses
- 8 oz Brie cheese
- 8 oz Cheddar cheese
- 8 oz Monterey Jack cheese
Savory additions
- 1/4 cup olives
- 1/4 cup marinated peppers
- 1/4 cup almonds
Sweet additions
- 1/4 cup fig jam
- 1/4 oz dates
- 8 oz grapes
Crackers
- 8 oz crackers
Instructions
- Put cheese wedges on the wooden board or platter.
- Put crackers on the side of the board.
- Put olives, peppers and jam in small dishes and put on the platter.
- Put almonds, dates and grapes on a platter in between other ingredients.
- Allow the cheese to come to room temperature before serving.
Notes
This 3x3x3 formula is genius! Great tips!!
Thanks for the tip about letting the cheese come to room temperature before serving. I never know that.. lol!