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You will have so much fun serving this Christmas butter board with Santa which showcases an array of cheeses, meats, and crackers arranged in the familiar face of Santa Claus. If your guests are like ours, they will ooh and ahh over this adorable Santa Claus butter board!

Christmas butter board with Santa surrounded by fruit

Why We Love this Christmas Butter Board with Santa Clause

The fun begins when we start assembling Santa’s butter face and his iconic red hat, made of salami. The white beard of jolly Santa is represented by rings of mozzarella cheese.

Ingredients

6-7 ounces of unsalted butter
4 tablespoons of whipped cream cheese
4 ounces of thinly sliced salami
1.5 ounces of black cheddar cheese – Black cheddar cheese, also called charcoal cheese, can be hard to find. If you can’t find the black cheese, you can use olives, sliced in half, to form the shape of Santa’s belt instead.
2 ounces of gouda cheese
2 sticks of mozzarella string cheese, sliced into rings
1 tangerine
2 black olives
1 tomato
1 kiwi
Green grapes
Salty crackers of your choice

Recipe Tips for Santa Clause Butter Board

We like to include a variety of cheeses, ranging from soft brie to sharp cheddar, and a red-toned meat. You can use any red deli meat of your choice. As long as the meat has a bright red coloring, it should work fine for the base of Santa’s hat.

Incorporate fresh fruits in Christmas colors – like red and green grapes, pomegranate seeds, or fresh cranberries to add pops of color and freshness to this Christmas butter board.

We suggest adding more crackers or bread to the side of the charcuterie board. Or use a larger board with room for additional dippers.

As for the grapes, leave them on the vine. Otherwise, the individual grapes will roll all around the board and mess up the presentation. Ask us how we know!

Process for Layering the Christmas Butter Board

First, start with the wheel of brie. Slice off the rind and use the rind pieces to shape the mustache, the beard, and the rim of the hat, as pictured below. Make sure you have a multi-inch diameter all the way around the brie wheel on the board. Add two halves of a sliced olive for the eyes and a sliver of red bell pepper for the mouth.
Next, place the sliced disks of mozzarella string cheese under the Santa to create his beard and two triangles of brie rind for the mustache. Then, add the white rim of the hat, which is made of the whipped cream cheese. You can use an icing bag or even a Ziplock bag to create a ruffle effect.
Make the rest of the Santa face by carefully placing black olives, and tomato for the eyes, nose, and mouth. Add salami above the white cream cheese to finish the red and white Santa hat. Sliding one piece under another, tuck the rounded pieces of meat just above Santa’s head – to create a bit of a rounded dome for his hat.
Start directly under the Santa beard and make the black Santa belt with the black cheddar cheese (or black olives) and one piece of gouda cheese cut into a rectangle. Afterward, fill in crackers, gouda cheese slices, and fruits around the board, leaving as little white space as possible.

collage steps for Santa butter board with vegetables and cheese

Substitutions and Variations for Butter Board with Santa

Experiment with different cheeses, such as blue cheese, Manchego, or goat cheese, to provide diverse flavor profiles.
Change out the fruits as you wish. We use kiwi and green grapes on ours for these photos. But you could easily use tangerines, cranberries, strawberries, etc. We just like the green that the kiwi and the green grapes bring to the board since there is already quite a bit of red.

Storage Tips

To store a Santa butter board, carefully cover it with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, ensuring that the wrapping does not disturb the arrangement of the cheeses, meats, and garnishes. I like to tent the foil so as not to disturb the decorations on the platter. Refrigerate the board promptly to preserve the freshness of the ingredients, and when ready to serve again, allow it to come to room temperature for about 20-30 minutes to enhance the flavors before presenting this festive and delicious centerpiece at your holiday gathering.
Personally, I do not like to store the crackers and such on the platter. I just add those crunchy items on just before serving. For advanced preparation of a Santa snack board, you can pre-cut some of the cheeses and cured meats to save time on the day of the event. Arrange non-perishable garnishes and snacks, such as crackers, nuts, or dried fruits, in separate containers for easy placement later. Additionally, you can prepare any specialty spreads or dips a day ahead and keep them stored in the fridge.

Santa Butter Board

Make a Santa butter board with fruits and veggies to serve at all your holiday parties!

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Prep Time 25

Cook Time 0

Total Time 25

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American

Servings servings

Calories 225 kcal

Ingredients

7 oz Unsalted butter
4 tbsp Whipped cream cheese
2 pieces String cheese mozzarella
2 oz Gouda cheese
4 oz Salami thinly sliced
1 Black olive
1 Tomato
2 oz Black cheddar cheese
2 Tangerines
1 Kiwi
Green grapes
Crackers assorted

Instructions

Ahead of preparation time, place butter on counter to ensure it will be soft.
When ready, scald a wooden board with boiling water and pat dry. Form a circle of butter on a serving board.
On top of the circle of butter, pipe cream cheese from a frosting bag or from a Ziplock bag. Cut mozzarella cheese into many circles. Arrange at the bottom of the butter circle in the shape of a "beard". Cut two triangles out of the gouda cheese to make Santa's "mustache".
Cut salami slices in half. Overlap the pieces to form Santa's hat, as in the photos. Cut out the nose and mouth from the tomato and place in the appropriate places. Cut an olive in half and place for the eyes.
Cut a rectangle out of the gouda cheese. Place it on the bottom edge and place two olive halves on top. This makes a belt buckle with buttons. Cut the black cheese into large slices or slice large black olives and place in the shape of a belt.
Finishing steps: Cut the tomato coarsely, remove the seeds. Finely slice the remaining gouda cheese and place on the board. Peel the kiwi and cut into semicircles and place on the left edge. Fill in the remaining vegetables, fruits, and crackers until the board is completely covered.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cupCalories: 225kcalCarbohydrates: 4gProtein: 5gFat: 21gSaturated Fat: 12gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 58mgSodium: 308mgPotassium: 119mgFiber: 1gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 745IUVitamin C: 11mgCalcium: 86mgIron: 0.2mg

Keyword butter board, Santa butter board, Santa snack platter

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