These adorable gorgonzola and pear tartlets are the perfect holiday appetizer for many reasons.

For starters, you get a serious headstart on your appetizer game with frozen phyllo tart shells. Straight from the freezer, the pie shells take no more than 6 minutes to brown up nicely in the oven. This pre-baking step is called blind baking. That’s a fancy term for baking a pie shell without any filling. If you’ve ever made a fruit tart, you’ve probably blind-baked before!

Monkey bread comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it’s round, wreath-shaped or square. It can be sweet, topped with nuts and cinnamon. Or it can go savory, with melty cheese and fresh herbs. For this delicious holiday rendition of monkey bread, we took the best of both worlds. Enter: savory and sweet Blue Cheese Monkey Bread with garlic honey butter.

We all love a festive holiday party, complete with color-coordinated décor, clinking glasses and plenty of cheer. Not to mention delicious seasonal food! But if you’re the host, there’s no denying the time, energy and hard work that goes into pulling off the perfect holiday bash. This year, it’s time to make the “effortless host” role a reality with a few entertaining time-savers made possible with Litehouse® Simply Artisan Cheeses.