Easy Cheese Platter Ideas

Are you looking for some easy Cheese Platter ideas? If so, this post is for you! Make sure you scroll right to the end to grab your free printable too!

One of my favourite ways to spend a relaxing (well as much as it can be with kids!) afternoon is to sit down with friends and family to enjoy a yummy cheese platter.  I always enjoy putting a cheese platter together but find I usually stick with the same type of cheeses and snacks to go along with them.  Last week I was very fortunate to be sent a selection of winning champion products from the 2017 Australian Grand Dairy Awards, and this was the perfect motivation to put together a creative but still easy cheese platter to enjoy with some friends.

While it was very tempting to keep all of these goodies to eat on my own, I decided to share the love and invite a couple of friends over for an afternoon swim and snacks – the perfect way to spend the afternoon really!  I thought I’d put together a large platter that would take awhile for us to get through, however I was proven wrong when it lasted just half an hour thanks to all of the kids wanting to be involved with tasting all of the cheeses and especially the Mango Lassi and Dark Chocolate Gelato we had for dessert!

We took our job of taste testing very seriously and just had to eat more and more of each award winning product to ensure our critique was spot on! All six of us adults honestly enjoyed ALL of the cheeses, both on their own and with other yummy goodies from our platters. We also commented how it was such a great way of trying new types of dairy products which we may not have otherwise tried. My personal favourites being the Emporium Selection Washed Rind (because who doesn’t love a soft gooey cheese) and also the Prom Country Cheese Venus Blue – It really goes to show what a difference a good quality cheese can make,  as few of us were a little hesitant to try the Venus Blue as we had a preconceived idea of what blue cheese tastes like, but we all really enjoyed it, especially when eaten on top of a cracker and topped with a strawberry!

I made sure to incorporate different textures and flavours when putting this easy Cheese Platter together, and here are some of my top tips:

Spending the afternoon enjoying good quality (and best of all local Australian) items has inspired me to do it more often, as it’s really not hard to put together a simple cheese platter which is full of quality and great tasting cheeses and other products.  If you are also keen to put together a cheese platter to share with friends (or enjoy by yourself, no judgement here!) then here are My top tips for putting together an easy cheese platter:

• Leave the cheeses in large blocks instead of cutting them into small pieces as this will stop them from drying out – and it also looks better!
• Take the cheeses out of the fridge an hour before you are planning to serve them as they have the best flavour when at room temperature
• Place foods that go well with the different cheeses next to each cheese to help encourage people to try them together
• Have a few cheese knives for people to use as this will help stop the different flavours of the cheeses getting mixed together and will also mean you won’t have to wait as long to try some cheese!
• Use a large plate/board as a platter and be generous when it comes to placing your items on it.
• Include a spoon or a server for any pate/dips you are serving to make it easier for your guests.

For more great party food ideas, check out this post: