Dorothy Kern
Food boards are all the rage on Instagram these days, aren’t they? But charcuterie boards don’t just have to be about cheese: today I’m showing you how to make a DESSERT Board!
Dessert charcuterie is the new fun way to serve dessert. They are the new version of the dessert table and it’s mind-blowingly simple to make one of these boards. You probably have everything you need already in the pantry!
I love homemade desserts, sure, but sometimes you just want to make something EASY, and that’s where a dessert board comes in.
What is Dessert Charcuterie?
Basically, dessert charcuterie is like a cheese board with dessert! Mix and match your favorite snack-type desserts and mix them up on a board. Easy peasy!
Dessert boards are the way to go when you’re serving a crowd. Really, they’re nothing new: it’s basically a cookie platter with a new name.
Except that, instead of having to be all homemade, the treats can be store bought or a combination, making this a semi-homemade dessert that looks fantastic.
People ooh and ahhh over cheese boards, but they’ll lose their minds at how fun a dessert board is.
What can you put on a Dessert Board?
ANYTHING goes! If it’s sweet, add it!
I actually love to use a dessert board like this as an excuse to clean out my sweets pantry. At the end of a month I’ll have open bags of random candy or cookies from baking that I want to use up – a dessert charcuterie is a perfect excuse!
Dessert boards are a great way to clean out your pantry!
PRO TIP
First, you need to decide the theme of your dessert tray.
Dessert Board Themes:
- Christmas (red, green and white treats or Christmas cookies)
- New Years Eve (sparkles, boozy treats, chocolate)
- Birthdays (think sprinkles and cake)
- Valentine’s Day (think red and pink)
- St. Patrick’s Day (all things green and gold)
- Easter (pastels, carrot cake or coconut, bunny shapes, Easter candy)
- 4th of July (red, white and blue explosion)
- Halloween (spooky treats)
- Date night (chocolate, small treats for 2, champagne)
- Girls night (bite size treats, cocktails, pink…anything goes!)
- Sports celebrations (team colors – this also works for college or HS football or any sports team)
There are so many more ideas – the longer I brainstormed the more I thought about.
Store-bought treats are the easiest way to make a dessert board!
Try to get a mix of things like:
- Chocolate covered pretzels
- Small cookies
- M&Ms or other chocolate candy
- Foil wrapped candy in specific colors
- Non-Chocolate candy (like gummies)
- Fruit
Really anything goes. If you see it and like it, add it. Just think about your theme: colors, shapes, occasion, etc.
You can also think about adding some fun sweet dips to your dessert board, like you’d add hummus or cheeseballs to a charcuterie tray.
Try these easy dips based off your theme:
- Eggnog Dip
- Peanut Butter Football Dip
- Peanut Butter Cheeseball
- Cheesecake Dip
- Rainbow Dip
- See all my sweet dip recipes for more ideas.
Homemade treats can take your dessert board to the next level!
Whether it’s a cookie tray for Christmas or a birthday cake board for a kids party, it’s easy to add some fun homemade treats to your dessert charcuterie.
How to assemble a dessert charcuterie board:
- Decide on your theme.
- Decide if you’ll have a centerpiece to your board (i.e. a cake in the center or my peanut butter football, etc.)
- If you’re not using a centerpiece, pick 2-3 things to put in bowls to create texture and height (i.e. candies or dip)
- Pick 5-7 things to put on your board, including your centerpiece or bowls.
- Place your centerpiece or the bowls on the board and fill them.
- Add the rest of your treats around it. You can put doubles of a treat where they fit, if you want.
- Fill in the holes with nuts or small candies as needed.
Then just sit back, relax, and EAT!
Have you made this recipe?
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Dessert Charcuterie Board
Ingredients
- Centerpiece
- 2 batches Cookies
- 2 types of Candies
- Dip
- Fruit
- Candy nuts or sweet trail mix
Instructions
- Place centerpiece or bowls on board with small candies.
- Fill in around the bowls with other treats.
- Serve.
Nutrition Information
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
All text and images © DOROTHY KERN for Crazy for Crust. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be accurate.
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Published on: December 17, 2019
You certainly outdid yourself on this gorgeous platter of temptation! Thanks for sharing your creative ways with us! <3