Christmas

Christmas Cheese Trees

By Amy Flanigan

Updated Nov 5, 2025

Read 3 Reviews

Prep 15 minutes mins

Servings 8 trees

By Amy Flanigan

Updated Nov 5, 2025

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These Christmas Cheese Trees are such a fun, festive, and super easy holiday appetizer you can make in minutes. Cheese triangles are topped with a mixture of fresh herbs, dried cranberries, and chopped nuts with a pretzel stick in the bottom to create the appearance of a Christmas tree. So cute and also delicious!

Oh how I love an effortless and delicious holiday appetizer, and it is definitely these Christmas cheese trees. They take less than 15 minutes to assemble, there’s no baking or cooking or even microwaving required, and they are super cute and festive. Plus delish!

All you need is some cheese triangle wedges (like the Laughing Cow brand), pretzel sticks, pecans, dried cranberries, and fresh herbs. I actually love playing around with the nut/dried fruit/herb combo and trying different variations – I shared my second favorite variation below.

Helpful Tips

• Cheese triangle wedges. The Laughing Cow cheese triangle wedges are ideal for this recipe because they’re already perfectly portioned and keep the prep so minimal. But you can truly use any soft cheese cut into triangles. Brie and Camembert would both be great options. Other white cheeses, such as provolone and mozzarella cut into triangles would work too, and even some goat cheeses would be good. Note that the harder the cheese, the less the toppings will stick.
• Use room temperature cheese. The toppings will stick to room temperature cheese easier and it will also be easier to insert the pretzel stick.
• Have extra pretzel sticks. It’s likely that you’ll break a pretzel stick or two trying to assemble these so it’s always good to have some extras on hand.
• Smooth out any cracks. If the cheese cracks when you try to add the pretzel stick, no worries. You can usually smooth the cheese out pretty easily with your fingers and once you add the topping mixture, it won’t be that noticeable.
• Dice everything into tiny pieces. The cranberries, nuts, and fresh herbs should all be diced into very tiny pieces so that they mix together well and easily stick to the cheese.

5 from 3

Christmas Cheese Trees

Prep: 15 minutes mins

Total: 15 minutes mins

Servings: 8 trees

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This Christmas Cheese Trees recipe turns cheese triangles, pretzels, and a mixture of herbs, nuts, and dried cranberries into a fun, festive, and effortless holiday appetizer!

Ingredients 

1x2x3x

• ▢ 8 Laughing Cow cheese triangle wedges
• ▢ 1/4 cup very finely chopped pecans
• ▢ 3 tablespoons dried cranberries, very finely chopped
• ▢ 1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme, (or rosemary)
• ▢ flaky sea salt and pepper, to taste
• ▢ 8 pretzel sticks
• ▢ honey, for drizzling, optional
• ▢ crackers and pretzel thins, for serving

Instructions 

• Unwrap the cheese wedges.
• In a shallow bowl, combine the pecans, cranberries, thyme, and seasonings.
• Lightly press one side of the cheese into the pecan-cranberry mixture, just enough so it adheres. (You should still be able to see some of the cheese showing through.)
• Gently push a pretzel stick into the bottom rounded end of each cheese wedge for the ‘trunk’ (see note below.)
• Arrange on a serving tray and drizzle each cheese wedge with just a hint of honey. Enjoy with pretzel thins and crackers.

Video

Notes

Variation. Another variation I love is to use walnuts, dried apricots, and parsley in place of the pecans/cranberries/thyme. (You can also play around with other herbs and spices, like basil, herbs de Provence, rosemary, and dill. Crushed red pepper would be a great way to add some heat and red color.)

Cracks in the cheese. While pushing in the pretzel sticks, they may cause cracks in the cheese wedges. To avoid this, it helps to make a smaller hole with a toothpick/skewer, before inserting the pretzels. If you still get cracks, just smooth them out a bit with your fingers.

Nutrition

Calories: 46kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 0.4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 13mg | Potassium: 23mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 53IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 0.3mg

Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and any changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are very important to you, I would recommend calculating them yourself.

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Serving Suggestions

I love serving these Christmas cheese trees on a platter for holiday parties. They make a great addition to other favorite party appetizers, like a pesto parmesan bread star and sugared prosecco grapes. You could even add them to a charcuterie board or cheese tray. I typically just add some extra crackers and pretzel thins to dip into the cheese when serving.

Proper Storage

Cheese Christmas trees can be stored in the fridge for 1-2 days. Just keep them covered tightly with plastic wrap, to prevent the outside of the cheese from hardening and drying out.

More Holiday Appetizers:

• French Quarter Cheese Spread
• Brie and Jam Fillo Bites
• Olive Tapenade
• Cucumber Sandwiches
• Caprese Skewers

I hope you love this delicious and easy recipe – be sure to give it a review below! Also don’t forget to follow Belly Full on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube!