Festive cheese roll

A cheese platter with a twist seems in order for a festive snack platter. The twist? Shaping it in a Christmas tree. The cream cheese roll also has a twist it in to go with the Christmas theme being dried cranberries and pecan nuts. The below recipe makes one roll as pictured below with the rest of the snacks sufficient for 8 adults.

What you need?

• 226g cream cheese (1 ounce)
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries, chopped
• 30ml freshly chopped parsley
• 3 tablespoons freshly chopped pecan nuts
• 1 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1/2 cup shredded white cheese, I used +48 oud Belegen cheese
• 3 tablespoons pecan nuts, chopped, for coating
• 2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley, for coating

What to do?

• In a medium sized bowl, add the cream cheese and beat with a hand whisk until smooth.
• Add the grated cheese, parsley, pecan nuts, cranberries and garlic powder.
• Mix well.
• On plastic wrap, spoon out the mixture. Form into a cylinder shape and wrap tightly.
• Place it in the fridge to set (at least 3 hours, best overnight).
• Once set, you can prepare to roll the cheese cylinder in the coating.

• On a large dinner plate, sprinkle the parsley and chopped pecan nuts evenly over the dinner plate.
• Remove the cheese cylinder from the plastic wrap and place on one end of the dinner plate, rolling to the other side while covering it in the coating.
• Once all areas are well coated, serve with crackers or a full snack spread as seen below (in a Christmas tree shape).
• You can make this earlier in the day, then once the cheese cylinder is well coated, roll it in a new clean piece of plastic wrap and place it back in the fridge until serving.
• See how I served my festive cheese roll in the pictures below (placed above the salami and below the filled peppadews) with all the crackers and chips.