Give Your Next Cheese Board A Sweet Spin With Cookie Pairings

Think of your next cheese board as the empty chalkboard waiting for you to write down your cravings. While typical ingredients can help round out presentations of various cheeses, we'd like to encourage you to include some sweetness in your next platter of cheeses. Former cheese maker and self-described cheese monger Madelyn Varela asks cheese lovers to try eating cookies with cheese. On Instagram, Varela can be seen swiping creamy cheeses onto cookies and making open-faced cookie sandwiches with slices of harder cheeses. Though the pairing might sound surprising to some cheese aficionados, open-minded eaters will be well rewarded for their culinary curiosity.

Varela likens the combination of double-stuffed Oreos and burrata to the experience of dunking the beloved cookie into a glass of cold milk. She then layers aged gouda on top of a Chips Ahoy cookie, instructing that the aged cheese's buttery notes can highlight brown sugar included in many cookie recipes, like our brown butter chocolate chip cookies or molasses gingersnap cookies. Varela also suggests pairing Biscoff cookies with soft-ripened blue cheeses. The creamy, pungent cheese dances well with the spicy cookie's crunch, or for a more decadent pairing, top Keebler striped cookies with a slightly nutty Manchego. Once you've tried these pairings for yourself, Varela's explorations may inspire you to experiment with cookie and cheese pairings of your own. 

Pile creamy goat cheese on top of your favorite flavor of Oreos, stack hard Italian cheeses on top of Italian butter cookies, or play with matching butter cookies with a variety of blue cheeses. Since shortbread cookies already contain a significant amount of butter in their recipes, the crunchy cookies are prime candidates for creamy cheeses like brie. Cheeses that offer tasting notes of booze can complement sweeter cookie recipes that have been iced or frosted, and the sweet Norwegian cheese Gjetost is akin to a caramel topping that can punch up more savory cookie recipes made with oatmeal or almond flours. After sampling gouda and chocolate chip cookies, you may have a new favorite snack.

When creating any board or party platter, consider the aesthetic elements of the ingredients you are plating. Vary textures in both the cookies you offer your guests and the cheeses you set out for party-goers to enjoy. Build interest by separating colors and using smaller dishes to break up cheese boards into separate sections. Once you've given guests permission to experiment with this curiously delicious food combination, you may need to stock up on cookies and cheeses in anticipation of your next party. This is a duo that can disappear fast.