I think one of the things I miss most during the winter are the happy hour cheese plates. When it's 3pm on Friday, all I really want to do is grab a glass of wine, a snack and enjoy the gorgeous weather. Ya, that never happens on Friday afternoon... usually it's more like "Panic! It's 4pm and you have a full inbox and orders to ship!". But I have been shutting down at night more, especially on the weekend, so I wanted to share how I throw together one of our fave snacks in just a few minutes when you're nights are a little more hectic than relaxing.

I love to put together a big 'ol spread, find new cheese and pairings, but this is our go-to weekend cheese plate. I could get in and out of Trader Joes in under 5 minutes if the lines weren't always so long. But really, 6 ingredients and you're set.

A cheese plate is not complete without a soft and a hard cheese. Ryan loves brie and I could snack on Gruyere all day, so those are the 2 we always grab. To accompany your cheese, grab a baguette (and always always throw it in the oven for a few minutes if you can!), Marcona almonds with rosemary, grapes and a chunk of honeycomb. Done. These 6 ingredients provide everything you need for a well rounded happy hour.

I've read that white wines pair best with cheese (ever had a sparkling wine with your cheese plate? just, yes.), so we always stick to chardonnay when enjoying our plate.

If you've been around for a while, you know I have a thing for wood serving boards. We have no problem finding the perfect one for our happy hour snacks. This one has been on display for a while, so I finally pulled it out to use. My friends Kristin at Ponder and Muse has these in her shop. She hand paints all those crazy designs on there, cute right? But a must when you're building a cheese plate... a cute board to finish it off!

That's how we build ours, what are your must have ingredients when building your cheese board?