Easy Thanksgiving Cheese Board [shaped like a turkey!]

In today’s post: Looking for a simple Thanksgiving appetizer that looks amazing? Put together this easy turkey shaped cheese board.

Ok, so Thanksgiving dinner is kind of a big deal. And it takes kind of a loooong time to prep. (How is it possible it always gets eaten in less than 15 minutes?!?) I like to spend my Thanksgiving dinner prep time on things that are important, like the rolls – I mean turkey – and keep the side dishes and appetizers fairly simple. This year I’m adding this cute Thanksgiving cheese board to the menu.

It looks fancy, but it’s actually really easy to put together!

The secret is starting with the variety pack of cheese slices from Costco. You get four kinds of cheese in the perfect size squares so there’s no cutting required. If you can lay out slices of cheese, you can make this Thanksgiving cheese board!

In fact, I’m pretty sure my kids could put this together while I’m busy mashing potatoes or making pie.

How to make a Thanksgiving Cheese Board

In order to make this cheese board, you will need:

Variety Pack of Cheese from Costco OR approx 2 pounds of assorted cheese cut into 2×2 inch squares

Ritz or other crackers

Spinach leaves (optional – you can just use more crackers if you prefer)

Pear (thanks to No Biggie for the idea to use a pear for the turkey’s head)

Pretzel stick for legs

Mini Chocolate Chips for eyes

Piece of tomato (or red pepper, salami, pepperoni, etc) to make the wattle

You will also need a board or tray to place everything on. I used a round board with an 18 inch diameter but you could adjust things to use a smaller board or pizza pan.

Step 1: Use one entire row of lighter colored cheese and fan it out around the edge of the tray, as shown below. It should go a little more than halfway around.

Step 2: Add a row of crackers, overlapping the white cheese.

Step 3: Then use most of the cheddar cheese, again overlapping the crackers. As you work your way in, each row should come down slightly lower on the sides.

Step 4: Repeat with another row of crackers, then rows of each of the two other cheeses (you will have about half of each of these rows of cheese left over).

Step 5: To make the turkey’s head, slice a pear in half.

Cut a little nose from a piece of cheddar cheese, and cut a “wattle” from a tomato, red pepper, piece of salami, etc.

I melted a little bit of chocolate in a sandwich bag and snipped off the very corner of the bag so I could “pipe” chocolate out. I used a little dot of chocolate to “glue” the eyes, beak, and wattle on the pear.

Snap a pretzel stick in half and stick the pretzel pieces into the bottom of the pear for legs.

Step 6: Add a row of spinach leaves on top of the last cheese pieces and place the pear on top of it.