The holidays are a striking visual feast. We’re talking trees glowing with color, light displays, decorative, festive knickknacks — and of course, eye-catching plates that make for a true culinary celebration.

Cheese is an ingredient that always adds a little eye candy to holiday fare. Whether for dipping, stuffing, spreading, or topping desserts, it’s like a warm, delicious blanket on a chilly day. And guests are all about more cheese, please! Let’s talk about how block, shredded, and diced options are the gifts that keep on giving.

Holiday Kiss

Block cheese is a great choice for culinary traditionalists who prefer to shred and customize their own inventory. It gives you more visual versatility to showcase on menus as well. Shredded is an excellent option for restaurants with more of a focus on efficiency and labor savings. You get the convenience of pre-shredded without losing any quality.

For chefs that want easy handling and portioning, diced is probably the right call. Bacio®, for example, is produced and cut with the highest standards, featuring multiple cheese varieties, so you get guaranteed consistency and premium quality in every bag. It’s made with fresh, grade A cow’s milk, uniquely crafted With a Kiss of Buffalo Milk® to deliver authentic taste and unparalleled performance.

Cheesy Season

Rich and creamy, an item like Bacio Whole Milk Cheese offers four optical, seasonal characteristics that chefs love. Start with superior stretch that results in Instagram-worthy pizza pulls, perfect for a winter wonderland. And like the best wrapping paper, it also provides maximum coverage. A little goes a long way when every shred and slice melts entirely across a chosen surface.

With whole milk cheese, you, or your guests, can display holiday dishes with pride and confidence as the reheat factor returns meals to visible, fresh-baked life. And waste not, want not — fun, proprietary portion cups available through Bacio are calibrated for specified amounts, helping to keep total cost and portioning under control.

Stocking Stuffers

Now, let’s discuss some jolly applications that can show out, not only in your dining room, but at your customers’ holiday parties as well. For starters, consider gourmet meatballs blanketed with melty cheese and a range of sauces. Or, think of the possibilities offered by on-trend, crispy cauliflower Parmesan minis, topped with Italian-style cheese. Irresistibly light cheese and herb croquettes could be the ultimate finger food for an event, especially when paired with a lemon, herb, and mayo dip.

As far as mains, a vivid red and green duck confit pizza or flatbread with arugula and cherry marmalade will light up the season, while a cast iron honey pie brings the trending, swicy elements of honey and serrano chilis to a hearty, thicker crust. Experiment with gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches, starring easy-prep, frozen pesto sauces, or blend some Italian-style cheese into a butternut squash ravioli with a sage brown butter sauce. And when it comes to a dessert stocking stuffer, you can’t go wrong filling golden-brown, sugar-dusted mini donuts with cubes of Bacio Block Cheese.

No matter what route you go with your tantalizing seasonal menu, including a few cheesy elements will create even more exceptional guest experiences.