How to serve your holiday cheeses

Every cheese below is in at least one of our holiday boards. Find the ones in yours. They are listed in the order they go on the board, softest and mildest first, sweetest last, so the board tells your guests where to start.

Before anyone arrives

Take the soft cheeses and the cheese ball out of the refrigerator 15 to 20 minutes ahead. Cold cheese tastes muted, and the cheese ball needs the time to spread.

Slice the firm cheeses cold. The Gruyère, the Smoked Cheddar, and the Gjetost cut cleanest straight from the refrigerator, with a sharp knife. Slice them, lay the slices out, and let them warm on the board.

Allow three to five ounces of cheese per guest for an appetizer board:

• Classics (6 cheeses, 41 oz): serves 6 to 8
• Entertainer (9 cheeses plus a mystery cheese, 64 oz): serves 8 to 10
• Host Hero (12 cheeses plus a mystery cheese, 71 oz): serves 10 to 16, with cheese to spare for cooking

One board or two

One customer built two boards from her box, one savory and one sweet, and set them at opposite ends of the room. It is the easiest way to serve a party.

The savory board: Gruyère, Tomato Herb Fromage, Spanish Paprika Chèvre, and if your box has them, the Truffle Chèvre and Smoked Cheddar. Olives, cornichons, sliced apple, rosemary crackers, and a little whole-grain mustard.

The sweet board: the bries, the Port Wine Cheese Ball and the Honee Pistachio Chèvre, and if your box has it, the Cinnamon Cognac Gjetost. Fig jam, sliced pear, dried apricots, red grapes, gingersnaps, and a baguette.

One board? Set the cheeses out in the order below, and give each brie its own knife.

Cave-Aged Classic Brie: our bestseller

Aged two weeks in our Austin cheese cave for a bloomy rind and a soft center. Serve it whole and let people cut in. Fig jam or cranberry compote beside it, then sliced pear, grapes, and crusty bread. The rind is meant to be eaten.

Cave-Aged Truffle Brie: the centerpiece

The same cave-aged brie with truffle all the way through. Serve with warm crusty bread and sautéed mushrooms with fresh sage, and nothing else.

Warm truffle brie: 10 to 12 minutes at 350°F in a small dish. A customer in New Jersey served it exactly that way, with table crackers, Mission figs, a raspberry sauce, and a pinot noir. For a bigger table, wrap it in puff pastry and bake at 400°F until golden.

Gruyère: the one that converts the skeptics

Firm, nutty and buttery. Slice it thin with apples, fig jam and whole-grain mustard. Then take it into the kitchen: the holiday mac and cheese (grated Gruyère into a béchamel made with oat or soy milk, folded through pasta, breadcrumbs on top, 375°F until browned), a potato gratin, or French onion soup under the broiler.

Port Wine Cheese Ball: serve it first

Made for the holidays only: port wine and a little smoked paprika in a creamy base, rolled in toasted almonds. Seeded crackers, sliced pear and dried figs. One customer bought it for a brother who had not eaten dairy cheese in 30 years. His verdict: "This definitely tastes as I remember it."

It has the shortest date in the box. Put it out on the first night, or freeze it unopened when it arrives; it keeps for six months. If your box has two, the second is for New Year's Eve. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator.

Tomato Herb Fromage: the crowd pleaser

A Mediterranean herb crust around a sun-dried tomato center, and the
cheese the kids reach for first. Spread it thick on warm flatbread with a
few olives and stop there.

If you have some left over after the holiday party, whisk half the wheel into three-quarters of a cup of hot pasta water off the heat and fold the pasta through. Ten minutes, one pan.

Truffle Chèvre: the umami bomb

Creamy, with black truffle folded through. Serve on crostini with roasted mushrooms and a little thyme. Or stir a third of the log into mashed potatoes or risotto at the end, and a side dish becomes the one people ask about.

Smoked Cheddar: the sharp one

Cold-smoked over Texas mesquite. Thin slices with green apple and a spicy mustard.

Spanish Paprika Chèvre: the bold one

A creamy chèvre coated in smoked paprika with a hint of cayenne. Warm rather than hot, and the color on the board. Serve on crostini with apricot or cherry jam, or stir into a warm white bean dip for the afternoon of football.

Honee Pistachio Chèvre: the dessert course

Tangy under a sweet and salty pistachio crust, and Mark Cuban's favorite. Last on the board, with biscotti, dark chocolate, roasted pear, and a spoon of cranberry compote. On Christmas morning, it goes on waffles or a warm cinnamon roll.

Cinnamon Cognac Gjetost: the after-dinner cheese

Our take on the Norwegian brown cheese: smooth, with warm cinnamon, a splash of cognac, and a caramel finish. Shave it thin over apple slices and gingersnaps, or serve it the Norwegian way, on a warm waffle, with coffee after dinner.

The mystery cheese

If your board came with one, its label tells you what it is. Find it above and serve it there. It is never a duplicate of a cheese already in your box.

What to pour

• One bottle for the whole board: a dry sparkling wine or Cava. It handles the rind, the truffle, the smoke, and the honee without picking a side.
• With the truffle brie: pinot noir.
• With the cheese ball: a tawny port, or mulled wine.
• With the Gruyère and the Smoked Cheddar: a dry Riesling, or an amber ale.
• With the Honee and the Gjetost: Moscato, or a strong coffee.
• Without alcohol: sparkling cider, or cranberry and soda with an orange twist.

Keeping it through New Year's

Everything keeps unopened in the refrigerator through the holidays. The cheese ball, the Tomato Herb Fromage and the Honee Pistachio Chèvre freeze for up to six months. The bries, the Gruyère, the Smoked Cheddar and the Gjetost do not. Once opened, enjoy each cheese within five to seven days.

Perfect for

• The gift for a dairy-free son or daughter. It arrives cold-packed on the date you pick, and the whole family gets to share it.
• Christmas Eve. "Guests immediately crowded around it," one customer wrote.
• The office or neighborhood party. Split it into two boards.
• The skeptics at the table. They are usually the ones who ask where you bought it.
• The cook. A Gruyère for the mac and cheese, a chèvre for the potatoes, or a Tomato Herb Fromage for the pasta on the 26th.