How to Pair Christmas Treats with Cheese

Indulging in traditional Christmas sweet treats might just be the next best thing to visiting the enchanting Christmas markets of Europe. But if you need something to cut all that sugar, may we suggest cheese? Since we’ve already demonstrated that cheese can pair with Christmas candy, there’s no reason it can’t pair with other holiday treats. The salt, acidity, and pungency in cheese all serve to balance the sweetness and richness of cookies, cakes and other treats filled with nuts, fruit, or redolent with spice.

While far from traditional pairings, delicacies like panettone, turrón de Alicante, speculoos, stollen and fig almond cakes can and should be paired with cheese. We spent an afternoon with cheese expert Ray Bair, proprietor of Cheese Plus and a member of the Guilde Internationale des Fromagers trying different combinations to find the best pairings. While they may not be classics today, they are all clear winners.

Panettone is a classic Italian sweet bread that comes from Milan and is traditionally enjoyed during the Christmas season. Its roots trace back to the Roman Empire, though it gained widespread popularity in the 15th century, becoming a symbol of Italian nobility. According to legend, the modern panettone was the creation of a Milanese baker named Toni, earning it the name “Pan de Toni.”

More cake than bread, it is made from a rich, buttery dough similar to brioche, and is known for its tall, dome-shaped appearance and airy, light texture. It’s generously studded with candied oranges and raisins, and sometimes other ingredients such as chocolate. Traditional panettone pairs beautifully with Pennyroyal Farmstead Laychee. Laychee is the word for milk in Boontling (the local lingo in Boonville, California). It’s a fresh cheese made from goat’s milk or a combination of goat and sheep’s milk. It has a fluffy texture, is very moist with a mild citrus tang. Why does the pairing work? The two are both delicate in texture and flavor.

Fig Almond Cake and Adarré Reserve

Fig Almond Cake is a dense and sweet confection made from just Marcona almonds and dried figs. Imported from Spain by Forever Cheese, it’s a classic cheeseboard favorite. An incredibly dense and almost fudgy confection, it meets its match with Rodolphe le Meunier’s Adarré Reserve. Adarré Reserve is a ripened cheese, made from a blend of sheep and goat’s milk from the Pays-Basque, France, and is a complex cheese that has distinctly nutty flavors along with creamy and fruity notes with a bit of earthiness that is mirrored in the fruit and nut cake. The firm texture of the two also help them meld together.

Torrone and Leonora a Fuego

Nougat candy is popular throughout Europe, especially during the holiday season. Michele Buster of Forever Cheese has been carrying Spanish turrón for some time and rather than viewing it as a candy, she has always maintained it should be served with cheese. But which cheese? Made from almonds, honey and egg whites, turrón de Alicante contains at least 45% almonds. Crunchy and chewy, it’s irresistible. Nothing pairs better with toasty almonds than Spanish pimentón. Bair says it calls out for spice and tang. The perfect pairing? Leonora a Fuego also an exclusive import by Forever Cheese. A spicy goat cheese coated in smoky de la Vera pimentón, it’s tangy and smoky flavor cuts right through all that sweetness. Want to take this pairing even further? Bair suggests trying it with some sherry.

Specloos and Le Cyprien à la liqueur de Noix

Specloos and Le Cyprien à la liqueur de Noix

Specloos are spiced cookies from Belgium using detailed wooden molds with religious or folkloric images. They are associated with Saint Nicholas Day, and were originally made in the 17th century. Caramelized and crunchy with a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger, we thought these cookies would be easy to pair with cheese. They were not. Typically served with coffee or tea, they found their match with a cheese from neighboring France.

Le Cyprien à la liqueur de Noix is another cheese from affineur Rodolphe le Meunier. As the name indicates, it’s a walnut liqueur-soaked cheese. Made from cow’s milk from Touraine, France. The cheese has notes of pralines and sweet maple notes that just sing with the sweetly spiced cookies.

Stollen and Point Reyes Farmstead Bay Blue

Stollen or "Dresdner Christstollen," is a German Christmas fruit cake made with a dense, yeasted dough filled with candied citrus peel, raisins, almonds, and marzipan. It is often flavored with cardamom and cinnamon and is coated with a thick layer of powdered sugar, lending a festive, snow-like appearance. It proved a tough sweet to pair with cheese and needed something equally rich with a bite to counterbalance all the dried fruit. After trying several popular blue cheeses including gorgonzola and bleu d’Auvergne, Bair agreed that Bay Blue was the winner. A mellow blue cheese with an almost sweet finish, it pairs beautifully with the rich cake and intense dried fruit without overpowering it.