Cheese
A Build-Your-Own Crispbread Bar for Peak Holiday Snacking
And how to recreate your own at home this winter.
We’ve teamed up with Wasa—makers of Swedish-style crispbreads crafted with simple, wholesome ingredients—to put together a snack-able spread that’s sure to be the star of your holiday gatherings. Featuring Wasa’s delightfully crunchy and deeply flavorful Multi Grain and Gluten Free Crispbreads (click here to shop 'em), this customizable crispbread bar from our Resident Cheese Plater Marissa Mullen is un-brie-lievably easy and bound to impress.
The holidays are fast approaching, and what better way to celebrate a festive occasion—be it a full-on holiday party or cozy night in—than with a customizable crispbread bar adorned with season-perfect pairings? I love the flexibility of a build-your-own snack bar: Not only is it super easy to assemble for stress-free entertaining, but it also requires less prep time than your normal cheeseboard because the board doesn’t need to appear quite as abundant. Snack bars allow your guests to venture off on their own personal pairing adventures—choosing from a variety of cheeses, cured meats, pickled veggies, mustards, chutneys, and other antipasto.
Wasa’s Multi Grain and Gluten Free Crispbreads make excellent crunchy bases for this type of set-up because they stand up well to all sorts of toppings and have a larger surface area than your average cracker (which makes piling on those toppings extra easy). The full-bodied flavor of grains topped with oat flakes and rye bran in the Multi Grain Crispbread creates a delicious foundation that still leaves room for the cheese and charcuterie to shine. I always keep Wasa’s Gluten Free Crispbread handy too, for anyone at the party that might be avoiding gluten. Made from potato starch, amaranth flour, and rice flour, this crispbread is just as crunchy and flavorful, with notes of fennel, anise, and caraway.
To build this spread, I used my popular Cheese By Numbers method to pick out supplies and arrange artfully—here’s how you can recreate your own at home this winter.
How To Build a Crispbread Bar
Before we get into the method, we need a solid foundation to build upon. Because this is an interactive spread, you’ll want to use an array of boards, bowls and ramekins to hold all the bits and bobs.
Step 1: The first step of the Cheese By Numbers method is, of course, the cheese. For a seasonal touch, I went with a decadent cow’s milk Brie from France, cranberry-coated fresh chèvre for some tangy sweetness, and a nutty Gruyère from Switzerland. It’s important to include a variety of cheese for endless pairing options and unique tasting notes. I pre-cut the harder cheese while leaving the Brie and chèvre mostly intact, and laid them all out in a row on the left side of the board.
Step 2: Up next is the meat, or charcuterie. For this winter crispbread bar, I wanted to include two types of cured meats—prosciutto and salami—for a savory element. I folded each slice and placed them to the right of the cheeses on the board for easy grazing. Other great charcuterie options to try here are coppa, soppressata, bresaola, salami piccante, and mortadella.
Step 3: This step covers produce, and this is where I utilized my small bowls; you can use any you have in your cupboard, from soup to cereal bowls. Here, I filled one bowl with cornichons and roasted red peppers, another with sugar-coated cranberries for some tangy sweetness, and a third with pomegranate seeds as a juicy topping. But this is a great spot to incorporate any in-season items, which could also include roasted mushrooms, caramelized onions, persimmons, roasted pears, and apples!
Step 4: Time to add the crunch-factor—this is where Wasa’s Crispbreads come into play. An essential base for your guests’ creations, each one practically makes its own mini board for building personal bites, stacking different combinations of cheese, meat, produce, and the like. I also included marcona almonds and candied walnuts for another sweet and savory crunch.
Step 5: I then added my dips into small ramekins, bringing some deeper, more robust flavors to pair with the other items. I added a luxurious truffle honey, a zesty grainy mustard, and an ever-reliable fig jam.
Step 6: The last step is also the easiest—the garnish. For this spread’s finishing touches, I used fresh rosemary sprigs, which brought a pop of color and fragrant aroma.
2 Perfect Crispbread Pairings
Now, for the best part: building the perfect bite. I usually leave the pairings up to my guest’s personal preferences, but I can’t help but have a few favorites. For a sweeter combo, I topped the Wasa Multi Grain Crispbread with cranberry goat cheese, candied walnuts, pomegranate seeds, and rosemary sprigs. The fruity and creamy goat cheese makes for a smooth base, while the candied walnuts and pomegranate seeds offer notes of maple and juicy tartness. The rosemary rounds out the bite with an herbaceous quality, reminiscent of winter in the northeast.
On the savory side, I topped the Gluten Free Crispbread with Gruyère, prosciutto, roasted red peppers, grainy mustard, and a cornichon. The pairing is a tasty medley of nutty, tangy, sweet, sour, and crunchy items. I especially love the Gruyère with prosciutto; the saltiness and fattiness of each item complement each other well. Adding in something tangy, like mustard cuts through all the richness, making way for a well-rounded bite.
Our friends at Wasa have been making rustic, wholesome crispbreads for over 100 years. If you’re thinking of building a snack bar this winter (we highly encourage this), reach for a box or two of Wasa’s crunchy crispbreads for piling on cheese, charcuterie, and all your favorite toppings. With so many flavors to choose from—like savory Multi Grain, Gluten Free Sesame & Sea Salt, and 100 percent whole-grain Light Rye—there’s a crispbread for everyone. Stock up for the season and shop Wasa here.
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