Make holiday entertaining a breeze this year with this stunning Holiday Fruit & Nut Cheese Board! A variety of cheeses is served with fresh fruits, nuts, crackers, bread, and spreads for an amazing centerpiece or appetizer.
Hiiii, friends! We have less than a week to go before Christmas and I have just a few more goodies to share! I was absolutely obsessed with my winter harvest cheese board last year so... I decided to whip up another. This Holiday Fruit & Nut Cheese Board has a gorgeous variety of mild cheeses, including some studded and covered with fruit but the real star of the show is this Pistachio Fig Baked Brie! It is dead-easy to make and it's likely the best thing you've ever put in your mouth. I'm in love with all of it. Let's put it together!
So I want to knock a little cheese board myth before we start - the "rule" that you have to have a certain key variety of cheeses to ensure cheese tray perfection. They say you should have a soft cheese, semi-soft, semi-hard, and hard. Some also debate you need a blue cheese. I'm here to tell you, it's your cheese board and you should put whatever will make you happy on it! My family is not super into cheeses, which means we tend to like milder, creamier cheeses over super strong, aged ones. So I built my fruit & nut cheese board based on our preferences! This beauty features a blueberry & vanilla goat cheese, a Borgonzola {which is a blue cheese/brie hybrid and it's AMAZING}, the aforementioned baked brie, an aged goat cheese, cranberry-studded white cheddar, and a nice chunk of Parmesan. All things we love, or similar to flavors we already know we like, and it was a hit!
Besides the cheeses, we of course cannot forget the fruit and nut part of this fruit & nut cheese tray. I added lots of seasonal fruits, including pomegranate, persimmon, and grapes, as well as some blueberries to accompany my blueberry-covered chèvre. I scattered handfuls of different nuts around the board, from peanuts to pecans to walnuts. I also included some fruit & nut crackers as well as some toasted bread {which didn't make the pictures} to build all the cheese pairings on. The extra goodies I included were white cheddar-stuffed green olives and herbed cream cheese-stuffed peppers, as well as some homemade cranberry sauce {left over from these cranberry rolls} and honey!
While this was {sadly} not sponsored, I have to tell y'all I got 95% of this stuff at Aldi, including all the cheeses and the olives/peppers! They made this beautiful fruit & nut cheese board affordable while still being a total show-stopper. And I swear this Borgonzola is seriously the only blue cheese I've ever honestly enjoyed! The texture and super strong flavor of regular blue cheese is something I just can't stomach, but this stuff is just mild and creamy enough that even I will eat it.
Oh and to finish off! Let's not forget this amazing pistachio & fig baked brie! I used pistachios and fig butter because that's what I had in the fridge {no shame} but you could do this with any combination for a delicious cheesy treat! I think cherry preserves with almond slivers would be TO DIE FOR. Or blackberry pecan. Or mixed berry with hazelnuts. Honestly, anything on melted brie is incredible so make your own combinations!
Looking for more cheese board inspo? Check out my Winter Harvest Cheese Board and Pinzimonio Tray. You might also like this Cranberry Baked Brie and Prosciutto Pear Baked Brie!
- 1 8oz wheel of brie
- ¼ cup fig butter
- 2-3 tablespoon roughly chopped pistachios
- 1-2 tablespoon honey
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Trim crust off the top, bottom, and sides of the brie, and place in brie baker or other small oven-safe dish.
- Spoon the fig butter on top, and sprinkle on the pistachio pieces.
- Finally, drizzle on the honey.
- Bake in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly. Enjoy immediately!
Adina says
I love such a platter, it is a great thing to offer when friends are coming. Easy to make yet always impressive!
valentina says
Thank you so much, Adina! That's my thoughts exactly, too. So simple but it looks so fancy!
Cam S. says
You are a wonderful food photographer! Really lovely photos, and your recipes look yummy. Thanks for making such fun content.
Happy holidays to you and yours.
valentina says
Thank you so much for your comment, Cam! I am happy to have you here 🙂 So glad you enjoyed the post. Happy holidays!