Dessert Charcuterie Board Recipe

Why We Love This Dessert Charcuterie Board Idea

What are you to do with all your leftover holiday candies, cookies, and gift basket snacks? Well, skip the baking and set out a gorgeous Dessert Charcuterie Board! There’s no easier dessert than the one that is made with pre-purchased ingredients. Although we love freshly baked cookies and homemade candies, when the holidays get crazy, it’s handy to just open a few packages and lay out the sweets… Then you can whip together a Christmas dessert charcuterie board that feels super festive for your guests but takes barely any effort. Now that’s nice! PS – Sweet Boards are great for all occasions. Consider making one for Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Easter, movie night, and birthday parties as well! This dessert charcuterie board with candy is so easy to make with either homemade or store-bought treats, or a combination of both. The key is to balance various types of sweet treats, and then just to lay them out in a visually appealing way. Get creative here! You’ll want to pick a minimum of 1-3 different snacks from each category listed below to make a board to impress.

Ideas for What to Include on a Dessert Board

Fresh Fruit

Variety of berries like strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, etc Sliced apples Grapes Bananas Peaches and plum slices Fresh pineapple

Pro Tip: Any fruit that starts to brown quickly when sliced should be tossed and lemon juice before placed on the board.

Cookies

Select a balance of soft and crisp cookies that are good for dipping.

Shortbread Peanut butter cookies Butter cookies Ginger snaps Pirouette cookies Milano cookies Pecan Sandies or Chocolate Chip Walnut cookies

Really, any type of homemade cookies are great to include on your Christmas dessert charcuterie board!

Pastries

Frozen cream puffs Small powdered donuts or donut holes Miniature danishes or cupcakes Macaroons Puff pastry twists like these easy Cinnamon Twists

Salty-Sweet

Select items that balance well with sweets, or are both salty and sweet together!

Kettle Corn Cinnamon sugar pretzels Graham crackers Regular butter pretzels Cinnamon sugar potato chips Cinnamon Pita Chips Nuts like pistachios or candy pecans

Candy

Select several options so you have a balance of chocolate, caramels, marshmallows, and fruit-flavored candies. I like to include a combination of packaged candy and some homemade goodies. Here are a few of our favorites:

Mexican Chamoy Candies Buckeyes (no-bake peanut butter balls) Cinnamon Pecan Praline Brigadeiro (Brazilian truffles) 3-Ingredient Chocolate Truffles Candied Orange Peels Vanilla Orange Candied Cranberries (great for Christmas dessert boards!)

Dessert Dips

Although you don’t have to provide a dip on a desert board, it is a nice touch! Open up a jar of Nutella, or use a good quality salted caramel dip, dark chocolate ganache, peanut butter, or almond butter as a sweet dip. Even a cream cheese base for a dip is a great option. Give any of these easy recipes a try:

Cream Cheese Caramel Apple Dip Retro Cream Cheese Fruit Dip Chocolate Dipping Sauce Nutella Chocolate Fondue Salted Caramel Sauce Homemade Hot Fudge Sauce

How to Make a Sweet Dessert Charcuterie Board

Select 1-3 items from each category, or up to 5 for an extra-large desert board: fresh fruit, cookies, pastries, candies, salty-sweet, sweet dips. Slice the fresh fruit if needed, and toss it with lemon juice to keep it from browning. Set out a large cutting board or decorative tray. Place the dip(s) in a small serving bowl(s) and place them on the tray. Then arrange all other items around the dip bowls. Be creative and make it beautiful! Pro Tip: Any dry crisp items that are touching fruit may become soft over time. Keep this in mind as you are arranging the items. If making in advance, keep the sliced fruit in baggies and add it at the very end.