How To Build A Cheese Plate

Posted on November 25, 2014 in Cooking

I often serve cheese plates when I am hosting guests for dinner or drinks, and I sometimes offer to bring cheese plates when I am a guest at someone else’s home! Who doesn’t love cheese? If you are a cheese lover, be sure to check out my recipe for cheddar and chive buttermilk biscuits. With the holidays quickly approaching, cheese plates start to really come in handy - they are easy to make, usually a crowd pleaser, and a creative way to serve a number of different foods on one plate. If you’re following along on Instagram [and I hope you are!], you might remember seeing this photo from a recent brunch. Curious about how to make your own? Keep reading for my tips on how to build a cheese plate.

1. Start with a large platter, or cake plate (a cake plate is nice because it’s elevated from the table)
2. Choose two or three different cheeses (my favorites: manchego, smoked gouda, mozzarella, cheddar, swiss, blue, goat or ricotta)
3. Choose two or three different sweet options (my favorites: grapes, apple slices, candied nuts, dried fruit, fig jam, honey or truffled honey)
4. Choose two or three different cracker or bread options (my favorites: whole wheat crackers, Triscuits, homemade garlic toast points, pita chips, rosemary crackers)
5. Place a small knife on the platter to make it easy for guests
6. Label each cheese, optional

In the platter above, I used manchego and sweet cheddar cheese with two different whole wheat cracker options, candied walnuts, dried cherries and garlic rubbed whole grain bread. I labeled each cheese with a small toothpick flag so that there wouldn’t be any confusion and included a small ceramic paring knife so that guests would not have to use their own knives to cut pieces.

To make garlic rubbed toast:

1. Toast sliced bread
2. Brush with really good olive oil
3. Rub with a raw garlic clove
4. Slice and serve with cheese

-MW.