Cheese XMas Trees

Some more preparations for XMas Eve.

I saw these tiny trees on a Reel, but did not write anything down. Google provided larger cheesy trees and I took some of the ingredients from different ones to make my simple one.

First order of the day was getting the red kernels out of the pomegranate. I think I finally found a method that works and does not turn everything in a bloodbath.

Use a bowl of water, cut off the top of the pomegranate, then cut down along the 5 sidelines. Break it open. Take every part over the water and scrape the kernels out. The skin will float on top, the kernels stay down. Skim them off, then drain the kernels through a sieve.

Many of the recipes called for sharp Cheddar cheese. Here is only the regular Cheddar available, but I am not a huge fan of. Instead I used Old Amsterdam sharp dry Gouda.

Ingredients for 5 trees:

Ritz crackers round

225 g cream cheese

50 g old Gouda

25 g Parmesan

1/4 tsp dried onion powder

1/4 tsp dried shallots

Pepper

Fresh chopped dill

Pomegranate seeds

Mix the cheeses with the seasoning. I used the cheeses cold. There were ready to mold. Otherwise put the cheesemix in the fridge for 15 min.

Roll the cheese form in dill, set it on the Ritz and put some pomegranate seeds in. Keep in the fridge until serving.