I think I would use coarsely chopped toasted walnuts instead of almonds, and I think I would increase the goat cheese to 12 oz for 8 people. Better to have some to take home than to run out.

No. I think they need an oz. each to eat, and another oz. to moosh around the dish. And 8 oz. isn't enough to be impressive. To make an impact, it needs to be at least the size of a piece of paper.

Alternative—spread the crisps with the cheese and line them up, adding your toppings so it looks like a stylish mess, but is actually ready to eat. :)

But...don't you have to use a recipe from the book?

I'd garnish the perimeter with bunchlets of grapes, fresh figs and the marcona almonds, with a sprinkle of fresh rosemary or thyme.

Garnish with sprigs of rosemary and blueberries to look like a vine and berries, or rosemary and fig halves.

I wouldn't pre-spread the cheese on those crackers. Risk of them getting soggy and that wouldn't be good. Your recipe sounds delicious!

@plllog, good memory! In times past we had to follow a recipe from the cookbook we were using that year. After the ”Deep Run Roots” debacle (a $$$ cookbook that 90% of the group did not like), we decided to just use a recipe that is T&T or one that we want to try regardless of its origin. So, now we are a bit less structured than we’ve been in the past. Just between us chickens, I don’t know that it is working out very well. We have one member who makes some weird stuff that isn’t very good.

I like the idea of fresh figs, provided I can find some. Grapes are easy to come by.

I’m trying to decide whether or not to use a board or a ceramic dish. I only have 2 boards…one is too big, the other is too small. Ceramic dish is probably going to win.

Lars, I’d love to take home leftovers, but by the time the locusts have hovered over it and it has set out for a couple of hours, it goes in the trash!

do the board do the board

Almonds only if slivered; toast any nuts first

You can buy an inexpensive board at HG

I just got a decent looking bamboo board at Dollarama for 4.00.

Today I read that Butter Boards are out and the new is Cream Cheese Boards - which are made the same way with cream cheese instead of butter.

So there's no book at all? It was always so fun hearing about your club meetings! Maybe after this breather, they'll go back? Maybe an antidote to the bad book would be an agreement to pull the plug on a book most don't like after three months? Or, maybe try something vintage, like Fanny Farmer. Or do a before and after—the recipe as intended alongside what the cook would do to it if left free? Or maybe everybody clips recipes from the 'net and random drawing on who makes what? Or are your friends just tired of it all and want to get together without the obligation? I'll sure miss them....

Oh no! Kate. I’m passé already! DD said the only way she would be interested in a butter board is if it were plain butter served with saltines. HA! What is the synergy that makes butter and saltines so good??

plllog, I think after 7 years, the members got tired of buying, and then later storing, cookbooks that they had only a passing interest in. While the books were interesting as a curiosity, for the most part, they weren’t ”keepers.” We had 2 books in a row that were flops: Magnolia Table by Joanna Gaines and Deep Run Roots by Vivian Howard. Plus in some books, there were odd ingredients that we will never use again. For example, I have a bottle of pear liqueur with 2 Tblsps out of it; I have fennel pollen with maybe a 1 tsp used.

I’m beginning to hope that we will go back to all cooking from the same cookbook, but I doubt that it will happen.

If anyone is interested, below is a list of the books we used:

Frank Stitt’s Southern Table

Cooking for Jeffrey, Ina Garten

Tables of Content, Birmingham Junior League

Stop and Smell the Rosemary, Houston Junior League

Everyday Dorie, Dorie Greenspan (my personal favorite)

Magnolia Table, Joanna Gaines

Deep Run Roots, Vivian Howard

Dorie is my fave too.

I would definitely use an actual board. I do think I could get into cream cheese more than butter, although who doesn't like butter? Although I would definitely rather have it on some type bread (preferably homemade yum) than a saltine.

Pear liqueur… add to a little pear nectar, reduce it over heat and drizzle over pears poached in wine! Mix it with seltzer! Add it instead of Calvados to your brandied fruit at Christmas! Mix it with lemon or lime juice and confectioners’ sugar to make a glaze for scones! (or muffins if you like them instead). Or drink it as a cordial after dinner!

I think there is only one company left in the UK that makes perry (pear juice) and wish it was available here. I have homemade pear and cardamom preserves in my fridge right now and it would have benefitted greatly from a slug of that liqueur.

Bbstx, I think (not that what I think has any bearing) that y'all should choose a cookbook by someone who actually cooks! what does Joanna Gaines know about cooking?! Everybody knows Dorie Greenspan gives good recipe. Maybe they can only be up for consideration after everyone has looked at a copy and thinks the recipes are good and they want to try them.

@Kswl, when I looked up ”perry” it said ”pear cider”. I don't know if it's the same thing, but we definitely have hard (alcoholic) pear cider in the USA, I don't know where your ”here” is, but you might try a search for pear cider and see if it's what you're looking for, and if it's sold near you.

If you are interested in making your own crackers or flatbread, here are some recipes that have been posted here.

I use a bit of rice flour when I make crackers so that they will be crisper and crunchier.

Pillog I am in Georgia, and the perry I like is non-alcoholic.

I’ve found a source for fruit nectars but it doesn't taste the same.

@Kswl, oh! So there are several brands of alcoholic perry sold near me (SoCal) and probably in Georgia too. There are plenty of 100% pear juice or cider, non-alcoholic, sold here too, not just nectars, which are usually blends. In checking that, however, I found reference to the "perry pear", and that might be what you're missing.

Lars - Thank you for the link to the cracker recipes.

Homemade crackers? Dorie Greenspan's black olive sables. One of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. Sigh.

https://www.eatlivetravelwrite.com/2013/04/french-fridays-with-dorie-pierre-hermes-olive-sables/

Mtn, what sort of olives do you use? I notice in the linked article, the author mentioned hers were not salty enough. Do you use kalamata olives for more flavor?

Lars, I avoid anything that has to be rolled out. Trying to decide if it is thin enough; getting it off the work surface and into the dish, especially pie crust; and in my head hearing my mother telling me I’m working too much flour into the dough all give me a severe anxiety attack (not really, but as close as I’m ever likely to come to one).

I do make pepper jack crackers because no rolling is involved. They are made in the food processor and then squeezed through a cookie press. Same for cheese straws. My cheese straws are wide and flat like a cracker.

Both perry and cider in the UK are always alcoholic, so, Kswl, if you like non-alcoholic pear juice, UK perry would not be to your taste. Perry pears and cider apples are specific cultivars used in the two drinks. They are not great for eating raw.

Although there is only one large commercial perry manufacturer here, there are many small artisanal makers.

I actually liked ”Deep Run Roots”, but never used it, because that stuff I just throw together, lol.

Sometimes like her recipes, sometimes not.

Why don't y'all get together and check the book out of the library? It would only take one or two people. Then if you liked it, buy the book. I go on Ebay and Amazon and buy the used ones.

Sherry, initially, that is how we chose the cookbooks…Someone would suggest one and then one or two others would look at it to see if they recommended it or not. Then we got a new member who is not much of a team player. Both Magnolia Table and Deep Run Roots were ramrodded through by her. Because no one else had a strong opinion, we all just went along.

I think the cookbook-horse is out of the barn never to be seen again. For the most part, we are happy to be a luncheon club where everyone brings what they wish to bring within the assigned category. We are all good home cooks. If we were still using a cookbook, I wouldn’t be able to do my faux-butter board! 😉

Well, Magnolia Table is a non cookbook, just like her show. I guess that is why I never got in a group. There is always one. There is nothing wrong with what you are doing now, but if you do want to try a cookbook, and leave the pushy one out, the library thing is the way to go.

Mtn, what sort of olives do you use? I notice in the linked article, the author mentioned hers were not salty enough. Do you use kalamata olives for more flavor?

Never made them, only ate them. And then slipped more into a napkin in my pocket to eat later. They were kalamata.

😂 DD sent me this video of an ”edible butter board.” Love it!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjTLodLJhn5/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

^Now that’s my kind of butter board! 🤣

Went to HG yesterday to buy a board for my non-butter board. Everything was way too big or much too small or I didn’t trust it for food safety. I finally ended up buying a Mikasa bone china salad plate that has virtually no rim. Smashed the softened cheese on the plate from edge to edge. Then dolloped TJ’s Fig Butter on the top, sprinkled it with crispy pancetta diced tiny, and drizzled honey* over the whole thing. Served it with TJ’s Raisin-Rosemary Crisps. Everyone loved it! Woo-Hoo!

*I would have foregone the honey if I were using fig jam, but Fig Butter is not very sweet.

bbstx, that sounds delicious. I bet it was a big hit.

Q. How thick was the cream cheese?

It was about 1/4” thick across the 8 1/2” plate. It was goat cheese, but I don’t know why you couldn’t use cream cheese especially if you were using spicier toppings. I only used 8 oz which was more than enough for 8 women to have a nibble with their cocktails before a quite substantial lunch (gazpacho, beef tenderloin kabobs, mushroom and artichoke rice, and a caramel trifle for dessert).

I do like goat cheese too. I think that kind of "Board" would be very well liked. Thanks too for answering "...how thick...". This all gives me some good ideas for something to possibly take to a few holiday gatherings to which I've been invited. (The "Bring a plate to share" kind.)

I hope you don't mind that I C&Ped what you did. I really liked your idea.

FWIW below is a picture of the plate. It is Mikasa Sloane. It is more of a plateau than a plate.

I put museum putty under it to keep it from sliding around the tray as people scooped up the cheese.