Dec 6, 20193 min read

Tree Trimming Mini Holiday Platter

Updated: Sep 16, 2020

Before you deck the halls, put together a fun Christmas tree themed mini holiday platter to enjoy!

A small holiday platter filled with cheese, crackers and vegetables — Mini Platter for the Holidays

It's that most wonderful time of the year again when my family gathers to decorate the Christmas tree. I will admit that I am slightly obsessed with decorating for Christmas time, which means, this won't be the first or last tree we decorate during the holiday season.

Christmas is always a special time for us. I have the wonderful task to host our family Christmas dinner and I try every year to host at least one Christmas party for our friends.

As I am in the process of planning and preparing for our holiday grazing party, putting mini platters together like this one for our tree trimming is a fun and easy way to get the holiday season started!

Shopping List

During the holidays, we are filled with the abundance of rich foods, so for this mini platter I decided to use beet crackers instead of salame. Beet crackers look like salame rounds and taste great with hummus. This vegetarian platter is a healthy treat. Replace the provolone cheese with vegan cheese for a vegan holiday platter.

Shopping List

Vegetables - Red Peppers

Fruits - Cherry Tomatoes, Blackberries, Blueberries. Kalamata Olives

Cheese - Pre-sliced Provolone Slices

Crackers - Christmas Tree Crackers, Beet Crackers

Spread - Sea Salt & Olive Oil Hummus

Dried Fruits - Cranberries, Hibiscus Flower, Orange Slice

Herb & Floral - Rosemary

Let's begin...

For this holiday platter, I thought it would be festive and fun to arrange it in a Le Creuset rectangular baking dish. The bright red 'Cerise' color adds to the holiday feel. A small red Le Creuset ramekin will hold our dip.

Platter: I used a 10.5" x 7" Le Creuset rectangular dish with a small Le Creuset ramekin

Platter Layout

Use the images as your guide!

Step 1: We begin by placing the beet crackers beside the ramekin bowl and draw the crackers in a downward motion, creating a slight curve.

Step 2: Build an olive Christmas tree: Using your green kalamata olives create a tree pattern in the curve of the beet crackers and add 2 dark purple kalamata olives as your tree stump.

Step 3: Provolone rolls when stack looks like yule logs. Add them in the right hand lower corner of your dish. To make provolone rolls, roll pre-sliced provolone cheese, cut in half and trim the ends.

Step 4: Next, add a flower cluster of cherry tomatoes at the right top corner of your dish.

Step 6: Take 4 more provolone cheese rolls and stand them up.

Step 7: Decorate your tree with blueberries as Christmas balls in-between the olive layers

Step 8: Add blackberries between the beet crackers and tomatoes.

Step 9: Clip small pieces of fresh rosemary and place in-between the olives and blueberries. Add a sprig of rosemary with the provolone rolls.

Step 10: Add red pepper strips under your olive Christmas tree.

Step 11: Fill your ramekin with hummus and top with a Christmas tree cracker and add a sprig of rosemary.

Step 12: Sprinkle dried cranberries within the tomatoes and provolone rolls.

Step 13: Place a sweetened hibiscus flower on your provolone yule log rolls. This looks like a roaring fire ;)

Step 14: Last, highlight your Christmas tree cracker from behind with a sweetened dried orange slice.

Be creative!

This platter can be a fun holiday treat for your children to snack on after school, take it to work to impress your co-workers or bring it to a Christmas party as the perfect hostess gift. You can also build it in a bigger platter just doubling the amount of foods or adding additional foods like chocolates, fruits and vegetables as you like.

'Tis the season to sparkle!

As I stand and gaze upon our family Christmas tree, I am filled with the magical spirit that the holiday season brings. I look forward to having our family and friends gather at our home to spend these special times together.