Autumn Cheese & Cracker Board

Name: Autumn Cheese & Cracker Board
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 10 servings
Ingredients: 1 wheel brie; 8 oz aged cheddar; 6 oz blue cheese; 4 oz sliced salami; 1 cup red grapes; 1/2 cup fig jam; 1 cup marcona almonds; 2 boxes water crackers; Fresh rosemary and bay leaves, for the board

Appetizers

My blueprint for a cheese board that feeds a crowd without fuss, built on three cheeses, something cured, something sweet, and far more crackers than you think you need.

Course: Appetizers
Time: 25 min
Servings: 10

Cooking Notes

Take most cheeses out of the refrigerator before serving so their texture and aroma have time to open up. Cold cheese tastes flatter and feels firmer than it should.
Build the board around contrast: something creamy, something firm, something salty, something sweet, and something crisp. Variety matters more than simply adding more kinds of cheese.
Leave a little open space around soft cheeses and wet accompaniments so crackers stay crisp. Refill smaller piles as needed instead of crowding every inch of the board at the start.

Recipe Card

Autumn Cheese & Cracker Board

By Gabriella

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Category: Appetizers
Total Time: 25 min
Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 10

Ingredients

1 wheel brie
8 oz aged cheddar
6 oz blue cheese
4 oz sliced salami
1 cup red grapes
1/2 cup fig jam
1 cup marcona almonds
2 boxes water crackers
Fresh rosemary and bay leaves, for the board

Instructions

1
Take all three cheeses out of the refrigerator a full hour ahead, because cold cheese tastes like almost nothing.
2
Set the cheeses down first, spaced apart, and give each one its own knife so the flavors stay separate.
3
Spoon the fig jam into a small bowl and tuck it beside the blue cheese, which is where it earns its keep.
4
Fold the salami into loose ribbons, then fill every gap with grapes, almonds, and stacked crackers.
5
Finish by tucking rosemary and bay leaves into the empty spaces, and refill the crackers halfway through the party.