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There are always plenty of sweet holiday treats around this time, sometimes we just need a healthy fun Christmas snack to balance it all out. These Christmas Tree Appetizers are made with only 3 ingredients and are very easy to assemble.

Are there other ways to make Christmas Tree Appetizers?

There are a few different options if you want to make them a little different. You could use salami as the base instead of tomatoes.

If you want to make it extra cheesy, use a round cookie cutter and also use cheese as the base of the tree and the star. Slice a thick round piece of cucumber and use that for the tree base.

Sandwich pickles slices would be delicious, although they’re a little smaller. If you want to make smaller Christmas trees, use a shorter skewer, small cucumbers and a tiny star cookie cutter instead for the cheese star.

You could easily make miniature-sized appetizers using a toothpick instead of skewers, smaller tomatoes, mini cucumbers and a tiny star cookie cutter, or cut the cheese in a star shape with a knife.

Be sure to use cheese that isn’t too soft, but not too firm also. Pepper Jack, Swiss and Cheddar work well. To make it even easier, we used snack size cheddar cheese, it was just the right thickness and plenty of portions to make the stars.

Christmas Tree Appetizer Ingredients:

Cucumbers

Cherry or Grape Tomatoes

Thick Sliced Snack Cheese

Wooden Skewers (short or medium length)

How do you make Christmas Tree Appetizers?

Wash cucumbers and tomatoes. Trim a thin strip of the green exterior of the cucumber on both sides, making sure not to trim the center, green skin of the cucumber as it will be the outline for the tree. Using a knife, mandolin, or handheld slicer, slice the cucumber in long, thin strips.

Cut the bottom off the cherry tomatoes so they’re flat and will serve as the base for the trees.

Using a small star-shaped cookie cutter, make star shapes out of your cheese.

Add the cucumber slice onto the skewer in a back and forth pattern, extending the widest part on the bottom, gradually less as you get to the top of the tree.

Place your sliced tomato onto the bottom of the skewer, flat side down so the tree will stay upright.

Adjust the spacing of your cucumber slice on the skewer to represent a tree as needed.

Place the star-shaped cheese on the tip of the skewer.

Cover and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve the appetizers. We also served ours with our favorite Ranch Dip.

Tips: We cut our skewers to fit the tree based on our cucumber slice size and all of the ingredients on the skewer, they ended up being about 3.5″.

Once you’ve gotten to the center part of the cucumber, the slices are filled with seeds. Although they can be used, they’re a little harder to skewer as they’re not as solid because of all the seeds.

Poke a starter hole with the pointy part of your skewer into the tomato before adding to the skewer, it will make it easier.

Christmas Tree Appetizers

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Ingredients

Cucumbers
Cherry or Grape Tomatoes
Thick Sliced Snack Cheese
Wooden Skewers (short or medium length)

Instructions

Wash cucumbers and tomatoes. Trim a thin strip of the green exterior of the cucumber on both sides, making sure not to trim the center, green skin of the cucumber as it will be the outline for the tree. Using a knife, mandolin, or handheld slicer, slice the cucumber in long, thin strips.
Cut the bottom off the cherry tomatoes so they're flat and will serve as the base for the trees.
Using a small star-shaped cookie cutter, make star shapes out of your cheese.
Add the cucumber slice onto the skewer in a back and forth pattern, extending the widest part on the bottom, gradually less as you get to the top of the tree.
Place your sliced tomato onto the bottom of the skewer, flat side down so the tree will stay upright.
Adjust the spacing of your cucumber slice on the skewer to represent a tree as needed.
Place the star-shaped cheese on the tip of the skewer.
Cover and refrigerate until you're ready to serve the appetizers. We also served ours with our favorite Ranch Dip.
Tips: We cut our skewers to fit the tree based on our cucumber slice size and all of the ingredients on the skewer, they ended up being about 3.5".
Once you've gotten to the center part of the cucumber, the slices are filled with seeds. Although they can be used, they're a little harder to skewer as they're not as solid because of all the seeds.
Poke a starter hole with the pointy part of your skewer into the tomato before adding to the skewer, it will make it easier.

Video

Keyword Christmas Tree Appetizers

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Jodi is a fun-loving mom of two boys, ages 17 and 12, who live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As a stay-at-home mom over the years she has taken on the role of renovating just about every space in their home. She enjoys photography, being a brand partner for Young Living essential oils, sports, reading, crafts, exercise, cooking, plants and gardening. Her love language is acts of service and she’s an Enneagram type two, wing three. Follow her on Instagram @jodileigham

Agnes Hsu

Agnes Hsu is a mom of three and has been inspiring parents and kids to get creative with easy activities and family friendly recipes for over 10 years. She shares her love for creative play and kids food to her 2MM+ followers online. Agnes' commitment to playful learning and kindness has not only raised funds for charity but also earned features in prestigious nationwide publications.