Christmas Cheese Sculpting Tips
The British Cheese Board (britishcheese.com) have come up with some incredible cheese sculptures to adorn your table this Christmas, impressing all your guests and allowing you to have some great fun in the process!
Renowned food artist Prudence Staite said, “To make your cheeseboard an attractive centrepiece this Christmas, have a go at creating your very own festive sculptures out of cheese. Not only will this add a personal touch to the cheeseboard, but they’re also sure to provide an interesting talking point for your guests!”
Prudence Staite shares her top tips below on how to sculpt your own Snowman and Christmas tree out of British cheese, to jazz up your cheeseboard this Christmas -
Snowman
What you’ll need:
500g mature Cheddar
200g Red Leicester
Black peppercorns
Sprigs of rosemary or grape twigs
Method:
1) Choose 500g of your favourite mature Cheddar – the crumblier the better.
2) Grate the cheese and then use a food processer to blend the cheese.
3) Slowly add a tablespoon of water to the mixture, so it becomes easy to mould.
4) Roll the cheese into a large ball for the body and then a slightly smaller ball for the head, putting a bit to one side so that you can make a hat for the snowman later.
5) Then put the smaller ball on top of the large ball and use a fork to add texture to your snowman.
6) For the hat, cut a circle out of a 2cm thick piece of cheese, using a sharp knife, and place on top of the snowman’s head. To add height, you could cut out another slightly smaller circle and then put this on top of the larger circle.
7) For the eyes and mouth, press black peppercorns into the cheese.
8) Use a thin slither of Red Leicester cheese to wrap around the snowman to make a scarf. You could also add another peppercorn to hold the two ends of the scarf in place and act as a button.
9) Then use sprigs of rosemary/grape twigs to make arms for the snowman.
10) Voila – you have your very own cheese snowman to present on your festive cheeseboard!
Christmas Tree
What you’ll need:
500g of mild Cheddar
200g Red Leicester blended
Three star-shaped cookie cutters, all varying in size
A few cocktail sticks
1 x celery stick/orange
Edible glitter/non-toxic food paint
Method:
1) Choose 500g of a firm mild Cheddar.
2) Cut the cheese into slices which are approximately 3cm thick and 20cm long.
3) Use your largest star-shaped cookie cutter to emboss the star outline onto the piece of cheese. Then cut around this using a sharp knife to unveil one star. Do this four times until you have four stars, all of equal shape and size.
4) Then use the slightly smaller cookie cutter to do the same, unveiling four slightly smaller star-shaped pieces of cheese.
5) Finally, use the smallest of the star-shaped cutters to make six smaller stars.
6) Place the first four stars one on top of the other, turning the stars slightly as you stack them. This will form the bottom of the Christmas tree and the irregular shape will give the illusion of tree branches. If it helps, use a cocktail stick to keep the four stars in place by piercing straight through the centre of the cheese.
7) Then do the same for the slightly smaller stars and then the four smallest pieces. To add height to the tree, you could add a small block of cheese between each layer of stars.
8) Pierce the final star with a cocktail stick and place on top of the Christmas tree at a 90° angle.
9) Using the blended Red Leicester cheese, start to roll this into approximately 10 small ball shapes, which will act as ball balls for the tree, then stick these to a number of the branches.
10) For the tinsel, you use thinly sliced pieces of celery or orange peel. If you curl these around a cocktail stick and hold in place for 20 seconds, this should give them a nice curly shape and make it easy to wrap these around the branches.
11) For the final touches, sprinkle edible glitter onto the tree to add a touch of sparkle, or even use non-toxic food paint to add detail to your tree.
12) There you have it – your very own cheese Christmas tree.
In the run up to Christmas the British Cheese Board have a flavour map so you can discover which cheese suits you best! Take a look at britishcheese.com
Have you tried sculpting your own cheese yet? Let us know your thoughts by commenting below or tweeting us @FemaleFirst_UK
Cara Mason @cara_mason
Tagged in Christmas food Christmas Food Recipes Food Tips