Easy Holiday Entertaining Spread in Under An Hour!
There’s this perception that, because we literally have a lifestyle blog, we’re always down to spend an entire day preparing a meal. But the reality is, we’ve got pretty busy lives and we’re remarkably unorganized and thus always low on time. So, we gravitate towards meals—and in this case, entertaining spreads—that are time and budget friendly, but taste amazing and look fancy enough for Instagram. It’s 2018, so of course we’re considering Instagram-worthiness when preparing a dish, hello.
Our partner for this blog post is Kettle Brand potato chips, and we’re using their chips in this spread to give a twist to your fancy snack board, while still keeping costs low and stomachs full. We’re making a Baked Brie that gets ooey and gooey for chip dipping, and also Goat Cheese & Pomegranate Potato Chip Bites. The goal is to have an equal balance of crunchy and creamy, fatty and acidic, sweet and salty. For this spread, we’ll be using three of our fave Kettle flavors: the Krinkle Cut Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper, the Avocado Oil Himalayan Salt, and the Honey Dijon. They’ve got a ton of flavors (we got a sample package of like eight flavors and ate them all in a week, so what) and each one can add something new, so feel free to get creative.
The reason Kettle Brand is legit perfect for this type of spread is because the chips are hearty, and can really stand up to being topped with whipped goat cheese and pomegranate seeds, or dunked into gooey melty brie, without crumbling into nothingness.
Below is a shopping list and step-by-step instructional for this whole spread, which will feed 4 - 6 people as a snack at a holiday gathering, or during an awards show (or… football?). We’re Julia Child, you’re Amy Adams, and this is going to be amazing. OK, we said this could all be done in under an hour, so, less talking and more * shoves fistful of potato chips into mouth *
Holiday Inspired Snack Spread
takes about 1 hour // feeds 4 - 6 as a starter // costs about $45
Baked Brie Ingredients
1 (9”) bread boule (a crusty round bread loaf, basically)
1 (6”) wheel of Brie
1 6.5 oz bag of Kettle Brand Krinkle Cut Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper Potato Chips
1 6.5 oz bag of Kettle Brand Avocado Oil Himalayan Salt Potato Chips
Goat Cheese & Pomegranate Potato Chip Bites Ingredients
4 oz soft goat cheese at room temperature
2 tablespoons sour cream
Salt & freshly cracked pepper
1/3 cup Pomegranate arils (the seeds)
1 6.5 oz bag of Kettle Brand Honey Dijon Potato Chips
3 fresh basil leaves, chopped (optional)
Remaining Ingredients
Cranberry or apricot preserves
Two cured meats, such as salami and jamon serrano
Fresh fruit, such as cantaloupe chunks, grapes, and oranges.
Mixed nuts
Something pickled (cornichons would work great here, but we used pickled garlic because we’re unapologetically Italian)
Our note: the general flow here is we’re starting the Brie off in the oven, and while that gets baked we’re making the pomegranate goat cheese chip bites and getting the rest of the spread put together. By the time the Brie is done, everything will be ready to go!
Start the Brie
Place an oven rack in the upper middle position and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Put the bread boule in a casserole dish and gently cut the top off, see photos for reference. Use your hands to remove some of the bread to create a crater roughly 2” deep, and snugly place your Brie into it.
You want the top of the brie to be about even with the top of the bread, so if it’s poking above, remove the Brie and take out more of the bread innards before placing the Brie back in, and if it sinks too low, remove the Brie and add back in some of the bread to prop it up.
Once your Brie is situated, use a sharp knife to gently cut the top of the Brie off. Bake for 40 minutes, until the Brie is melty. Remove from the oven and serve with the Avocado Oil Himalayan Salt chips or the Krinkle Cut Salt & Fresh Ground Pepper chips for dipping. You can also tear off pieces of the bread boule to dunk in the Brie as well.
Make the Goat Cheese & Pomegranate Potato Chip Bites
While the Brie bakes, we’re moving on to the next recipe. Open your bag of Honey Dijon chips and pick out 20 - 25 of the best looking ones you can find. Set these aside on your serving tray. Eat the rest (kidding, kind of).
Place the goat cheese, sour cream, and a pinch of the salt and pepper in the bowl of a stand mixer (a hand held mixer would also work), and use the whisk attachment to whip on high speed for about one minute, until slightly fluffy. Use a spoon to dollop about 1/2 teaspoon of the whipped goat cheese onto each chip, and place the remainder in a bowl to serve on the side. Top with pomegranate arils and fresh basil.
Organize Your Goodies!
Get your meats and fruits and nuts etc ready on your board or table. Position the baked Brie and pomegranate potato chip bites in the center, because they are the stars ;)
Next, hope and pray your friends don’t show up so you can have it all to yourself, and enjoy!
Thank you so much to Kettle Brand for sponsoring this post, and thank you to our readers who support the brands that keep Probably This alive and well! Check out the cute and colorful Kettle Brand Instagram page for more inspo. As always, all opinions are our own.
xoxo Beau & Matt
