A Cheeselandia Wisconsin Christmas

Deck the halls
With boughs of holly
Fa, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la
‘Tis the season
To be jolly
Fa, la, la, la, la
La, la, la, la

There is nothing like a good ole party during the holiday season. To say I was excited with Wisconsin Cheese approached me to through a Cheeselandia party is an understatement. I was and am thrilled. This weekend we threw an amazing Cheeselandia Christmas. The cheese and Wisconsin theme was a hit. 

Grand Entrance

Enter if you dare. Oh wait, that’s the wrong holiday. Warm welcome and greetings my guests. Our guests entered our house to a tray of miniature old fashions. What a better way to start a party than a “old fashion” kick in the behind. 

In memory of my father, I made Crown Royal old fashions. The recipe to the old fashions is below, but a few details to ensure your miniature old fashions are a success. 

• Make a large bath of old fashions and then place in a cocktail beaker to pour into the shot glasses. 
• Miniature cinnamon sticks are hard to find and when found are super expense. Instead of using miniature cinnamon sticks, buy large ones and then use a kitchen scissors and cut them in half. 
• I used one alcohol maraschino cherry and one regular to give the old fashion a little more of a kick. It also will be a surprise to your guests, as I am sure they won’t expect that to be coming. 

Miniature Old Fashions

Cheeselandia

Making the large and in charge cheese board for Wisconsin Cheese and Cheeselandia was so much fun. I used the island in our kitchen to make the large cheese board. It was the centerpiece of the party. What’s a party without cheese? Not a party in my opinion. 

The cheese board was the hit and highlight of the party. I can’t tell you how long we all stood around the cheese display and ate cheese, cheese and more cheese. All the cheese was so good, cheesegasm good! The favorite of the party was the blue cheese, which was super delicious. It wasn’t super soft and had an amazing flavor. Yum. 

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Featured Cheese

• Sartori Merlot Bellavitano: By wedding this rich, creamy cheese to the berry and plum notes of merlot, Sartori has created a marraige of flavors designated to make your taste buds say, “I do.” 
• Saxon Creamery Big Ed’s Gouda: A go-day aging process takes wheels of Bid Ed’s through three aging cellars, controlled for temperature and humidity, where the unique flavor characteristics emerge. With its creamy, smooth texture and sweet, rich, milk flavors, this makes a perfect table cheese. 
• Hook’s Five Year Cheddar: Aged to perfection over five years, expect this cheddar to be a crumbly delight that packs pops of crystals and an intense, full flavor. 
• Rdelli Cheese Haus Dunbarton Blue: A hand crafted, cellar cured cheese with the earthy character of a fine, English-style cheddar, coupled with the subtle hint of blue flavor. Open air curing creates a natural, edible rind. Made with pasteurized cow’s milk and aged at least 90 days. 
• Roth Grand Cru Reserve: Grand Cru is Roth’s signature alpine-style cheese. It’s made with the freshest milk in imported copper vats and aged 4+ months in their cellars. Robust and full-bodies, this on-of-a-kind cheese melts beautifully to become a cook’s everyday companion. 

Non-Cheese Goodies

• Crackers (both plain and gluten free)
• Plantain Chips
• Seasame Sticks
• Cucumber Dill Lentil Chips 
• Pumpernickel pretzel rods
• Raincoast Crisps 
• Bread Sticks
• Dried apricots
• Miniature pickles
• Olives
• Pickles artichokes
• Dilly Beans
• Peach Bellini Jam (Trader Joes)
• Sugar Plum Jam (Trader Joes) 
• Wasabi Almonds
• BBQ Almonds
• Rosemary Sea Salt Almonds
• Thai Cashews 
• Grapes
• Salami
• Proschuitto
• Maplewood Meats sausage sticks 

Dinner

For dinner I served the easiest meal one can probably make for a party, Crockpot Chili. With getting the house ready and making sure everything was perfect, I didn’t have much time to think about making an elaborate meal. After all the delicious cheese we really didn’t need one either. 

I would highly recommend this Crockpot Chili, not only for a large holiday party, but for during the week when time is even more of the essence. 

One of my favorite parts of Chili is the cheese, and of course Wisconsin Cheese. What else? A good Wisconsin Sharp Cheddar Cheese is amazing on top of Chili. Other toppings that are great: 

• Avocado
• Green Onions
• Sour Cream
• Fritos (plain and Chli flavored) 

Sweet & Salty

Snacks are always important to have at a party, especially one where cocktails are involved. You definitely need something in your stomach. These Ranch Oyster Crackers and Grandma Hotter’s Sweet Snack Mix were super easy to whip together and are definitely crowd pleasers. You have the sweet and salty for either type of guest. The sweet mixture even boasts a bit of salty as well. 

Ranch Oyster Crackers

Grandma Hotter’s Sweet Snack Mix 

Holiday Cocktails 

One of my favorite and the easiest cocktail to make for the holiday season is what I like to call Pepermint Bubbles. This drink is literally your favorite type of bubbles and a candy cane put in it. Depending on what type of candy cane you put in is what color the cocktail will be. I like putting a classic candy cane in my bubbles as it turns it an ever to lovely pink/red shade. 

Peppermint Bubbles

Another easy holiday drink that’s great for a crowd is holiday punch. Holiday punch can be made with a variety of different ingredients. I made a Cranberry Pomegranate Paloma Punch for our Cheeselandia Christmas Party. I tend to be a bigger fan of tequila than most other hard alcohols and love a good citrusy drink. 

Cranberry Pomegranate Paloma Punch 

Red wine make the world go round and round if you ask me. Red wine itself was drank by many at our party, but another cocktail we had set up for everyone I dubbed the Tipsy Reindeer. I didn’t try this cocktail, as I really feel I would have been that Tipsy Reindeer if I did, but heard it was surprisingly delicious. 

Tipsy Reindeer

Holiday Dessert

Frosted Butter Cutouts

My favorite sugar cookie recipe of all time comes from Taste of Homes. I grew up to my making these cookies and a Christmas doesn’t go by that I don’t make them now. They are a super soft and tasty Christmas cookie. If you ask me sugar cookies shouldn’t be hard as a rock and this is one of the many reasons I love these cookies. I also love the almond extract in them. Mmm.  I have linked the Taste of Homes Frosted Butter Cutouts here. 

Cheese

Cheese itself is a fabulous dessert. I had a few different jams out on the cheese board and some fig cracker and this was a delicious sweet bite. One of the favorites of the night was the sugar plum jam on a fig raincoast crisp with some blue cheese. My mouth is watering typing this. 

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies remind me of my Dad and always seem to be a hit amongst everyone. The good ole Reese Peanut Butter cup always does the trick of soothing that sweet tooth. 

Additional Sweets

 I had additional sweets spread throughout the house. Some by the bar, some by the cheese, you name it there was some sort of sweet. The sweets I had spread out were: 

• Chocolate Truffles
• Dark Chocolate Covered Almonds
• Milk Chocolate Covered Cherries
• Haribo Peaches

I also made some peppermint candy suckers which weren’t eaten but used as decor. 

Decor

The decor for the Cheeselandia party was simple. The centerpiece of the party was the cheese board. I also had the traditional Christmas decorations up; Christmas Tree, Lights, Stockings, etc. An inexpensive insider tip is to get pine bows from Home Depot or Whole Foods. I went to both Home Depot and Whole Foods and got pine bows for free. How did I get them for free? The clippings on the big Christmas trees that are cut off go to waste. I simply asked if they had any extra branches that were trimmed off of trees and took them home and pruned them up. 

Cheese, Cheese and more Cheese

Say Cheese! Cheeselandia Wisconsin Christmas was amazing. I would highly recommend having some Wisconsin Cheese at any of our parties, it doesn’t just have to be Christmas. Cheese is always a hit, and there are so many things you can do with it. The best part is it’s so easy to get Wisconsin Cheese delivered right to your door. All you have to do is visit Fromagination online (Link here). You can search and put everything you would like in your basket, pick your ship date and enjoy once you get it. If you are like me and don’t have much time or even if you do this is the easiest and most convenient way to ensure you have the best of the best cheese at your party. 

A party isn’t a party without some good ole Wisconsin Cheese. What is your type? 

Cheers!

XOXO

Post sponsored by Wisconsin Cheese.