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Gather your gals, friends and loved ones, it’s time to celebrate with this Galentine’s Dessert Charcuterie Board! A scrumptious platter, full of nothing but sweet treats. This makes it the perfect centrepiece to graze on this February 14th (for a special Valentine’s Day) or beyond!
Featuring seasonal fruits, bread, spreads, cookies, pastries, fudge and many more mini-dessert items. There’s a little bit of something for everyone!
Charcuterie boards are some of my favourite things to construct because they’re so customisable and fun. Each board you construct can be made differently to fit a theme, colour scheme or occasion and you can include such a wide variety of items. Like this one here we’ve got for Galentine’s/ Valentine’s!
Let’s dive into the details, shall we, starting with…
What is a Dessert Charcuterie Board?
Typical charcuterie boards feature a selection of cured meats such as sliced hams or salami, cheese, crackers, bread, spreads/ jams/ sauces and various other savoury goods to accompany.
A dessert charcuterie board, on the other hand, takes this concept and turns it sweet. All your favourite sweet snacks/ dessert items are all in one place ranging from chocolate to fruits, bread, cookies and so much more!
The best part is there are no rules, you can include whatever you’d like or exclude what you don’t.
Below I’ll give you a few tips and tricks to throwing your own together and some ideas on what to include.
How to Make a Dessert Charcuterie Board…
There are a few different ways to go about constructing a dessert charcuterie board. Here is a great place to start…
1. Select your Board of Choice
We wouldn’t exactly have a dessert board without a board! Therefore it’s the best thing to get you started. Depending on the size of your party/ gathering you can select whichever size of board would suit you best. Have a lot of people to cater to? The largest board you’ve got will work best or even multiple! Alternatively, a smaller board works for smaller gatherings or if you happen to have a meal prepared to follow.
There are a few different types of boards you can consider too including…
- A wooden board: Such as a chopping board, serving board, wooden tray or bread/ cheese board with natural wood tones. These work well in making the food you place on top of it shine/ stand out.
- A marble board: This can make the charcuterie board a little bit special and different. This is the option I went for with a marble cutting board I happen to have.
- Serving Platter: Another option is a serving tray or platter with sides. A great option if you plan on transporting this anywhere, so it contains everything in one place.
2. Gather all your Food Items
To throw together your dessert charcuterie board you’ll need a few key ingredients to get you started as listed below…
Seasonal fruits
Add a great refreshing twist to your dessert charcuterie with natural colours. There’s a lot of great produce out there for you to make the most of including:
- All types of berries: strawberries, blueberries and raspberries
- Stone fruits: peaches, plums, nectarines and apricots
- Apples, cherries, watermelon, melons and many other fruits!
I tried to keep them within the red/ pink category to go with the Galentine’s vibes but you are so welcome to explore further and include your favourites!
Breads and Spreads
Another great thing to include on any great charcuterie board! For this one, I went for a baguette and cut it into thin slices.
Spreads included:
- Nutella/ a chocolate hazelnut spread
- Dulce de leche/ caramel.
- Peanut or almond butter is also another great option to include
One of the best parts about these spreads is that they’re multi-functional, they can be used to spread on the bread as well as a dipping item for your fruit (particularly great with strawberries) as well as on any other items.
Cookies
Such a delightful item to include on any dessert charcuterie board as they add texture with a crisp and a crunch!
Here I’ve included:
- Homemade 100’s and 1000’s cookies (recipe from Cloudy Kitchen but I made them mini with small-sized cookie cutters). They’re the perfect item for a dessert platter as they’re pink with rainbow sprinkles!
- Alternatively, you could also include these miso Caramilk condensed milk cookies or these playful passionfruit emoji cookies for an extra bit of sophistication!
- Store-bought cookies of any kind including your classic chocolate chip cookies could also work.
- The second cookie included in this dessert charcuterie (because just one is not enough!) is some white chocolate mini macarons. Not only do they fill the spaces nicely but are so tasty and provide a bit of luxury. You may be lucky enough to find some tasty ones at a bakery, cafe or patisserie or you could even make your own and make them mini!
Pastries
I made my own with some store-bought puff pastry sheets that I cut into small triangles and gently rolled up (loosely so the pastry is given some room to puff up). Before placing in the oven to Fan Bake at 180*C, brush lightly with a beaten egg and then cook until golden, about 10 minutes.
Nuts
It works as a great space filler for all those gaps that may appear and also a nutritious snack item with a crunch. Freshly toasted nuts also take it a step further.
Types of nuts to include on your dessert charcuterie board:
- Whole Almonds – for the lovely golden brown colour and subtle flavour
- Toasted hazelnuts – which pairs nicely with the flavours of the other items including the hazelnut chocolate spread.
- Other options and alternatives you could use are pecans, walnuts, cashews or macadamias.
Sweets
Also known as the confectionary part of this dessert board. They make a great addition to any board to fill in spaces and provide colour and/ or variation in size (typically smaller). For this board, I’ve included:
- Yoghurt-coated raisins: there’s something a little special about these little bundles of joy.
- Coconut Chunks: these are tasty bite-sized coconut pieces.
- Nougat: this one happens to be a salted caramel version. But any one of your favourites would work wonderfully. If you can’t find any nougat, fudge would be an amazing alternative.
And now we assemble!
How to Assemble a Dessert Charcuterie Board
1. Always Start with the Largest Items First
Everything else can pretty much be arranged in and amongst these items, so it pays to place these in first and find the appropriate spacing for them. You’ll also want to make sure that they are evenly distributed throughout the board and not too close to each other for variety, visual balance and appeal.
In this case bowls and jars are the biggest items on this platter. Therefore they get placed first. This included the jars of spreads and a bowl of mini pastries, strawberries, hazelnuts and almonds.
From this point on the general idea is to go in descending order from largest to smallest, so the smaller items can fill the spaces that are left at the end.
2. Next is your Bread and Cookies
You can go ahead and place your sliced bread in a few different places on the board so that everyone can access them easily. Somewhere next to the spreads is great so that you’re close enough to add these on when you reach for the bread.
Cookies on the other hand can be placed for a bit of balance of colour, I placed them next to the pastries to make them stand out.
3. Then Goes on Some Seasonal Fruits
Layer on those sliced fruits in and amongst all your cookies and bowls for a balance of colour. It also works well if you’re able to follow the curves to create patterns and distribute them in different sections throughout your board. For example, having nectarines on the bottom left section and peaches on the top right helps to create a balance and evens out the colour.
4. Last is your Sweets
Including the nougat, coconut chunks and yoghurt-coated raisins, in that order. It’s a good idea to break up the sizes and shapes of items to add some appeal if you’re able to. Placing the nougat next to the yoghurt-coated raising for example works in contrast with each other. The nougat is bigger than the raisins and is square while the raisins are smaller and round.
TIP: Go ahead and place items in a few areas on the board too. That way everyone can easily grab a piece or two!
5. Fill the Spaces
If you happen to have any spaces left, you can go ahead and fill them with any of the smaller items you’ve got. In this case, I suggest using nuts which also help to bring in some extra colour and contrast.
Tips for Making the Best Dessert Charcuterie Board
- Include textures! One important thing to keep in mind while arranging and organising your platter is the eating experience. One of the factors that contribute to this is the differentiation of items and the variety of textures. So make sure you’ve got soft items like fresh bread and combine it with cookies and fresh fruits for the crunch and/ or the juicy freshness.
- Add bowls, containers, glass jars etc – doing so allows you to build up your board for a bit of variety and height. Housing sauces, spreads, jams and similar items help to contain these items and make for a better dipping and spreading experience.
- Also, including bowls of various items helps to break the board up nicely so you get some variation, rather than it just being a pile of things on a board. I like to do this with small bowls of some items within each category, such as strawberries in a bowl and nuts in a clip-top jar.
- Include different-sized foods to break up the board and give it some contrast. Otherwise, it can tend to look one-dimensional. Having various sizes helps to make it a little more interesting!
- Also, don’t forget to serve it with some delicious drinks! Suggestions below…
Delicious Drinks to Accompany
- Homemade Orangeade
- Strawberry Lychee Mocktails
- Cold Brew Kaffir Lime Lemon Iced Tea
- Raspberry Smoothie with Yoghurt and Seasonal Fruits
- Coconut Chai Latte with Cream Cheese Foam
- Passionfruit Green Tea, Passionfruit Soda and a Mango and Passionfruit fizz
Galentine’s Dessert Charcuterie Board
Equipment
- Large Serving Board
- Small bowls and glass jars
Ingredients
Seasonal Fruits
- 1 apple thinly sliced
- 1 nectarine thinly sliced
- 1 peach thinly sliced
- 250 g strawberries
Breads & Spreads
- 1 baguette or bread loaf thinly sliced
- 1 cup Nutella/ chocolate hazelnut spread
- 1 cup dulce de leche or caramel
Cookies
- 100's and 1000's cookies
- mini macarons or chocolate chip cookies
Pastries
- mini croissants or other pastries
Nuts
- 1 cup whole almonds
- ½ cup hazelnuts
Sweets
- 2 cups nougat
- 1 cup coconut chunks
- 1 cup yoghurt coated raisins
Instructions
- Start by placing small bowls on the serving board, along with a glass jar and fill them with strawberries, mini croissants/ pastries, hazelnuts and almonds.
- Transfer Nutella/ chocolate hazelnut spread and dulce de leche into small jars and place them on the board.
- Arrange bread on the board in a few different places, followed by the cookies.
- Layer on the sliced apple, nectarine and peach.
- Then add on the nougat, coconut chunks and raisins.
- Fill the spaces with some of the hazelnuts and almonds.
- Serve!
If you give this Galentine’s dessert charcuterie board a go, don’t forget to tag @theculinaryletter and #theculinaryletter, so I can see all your wonderful creations!
MORE Charcuterie Board Ideas…
Until next time, stay curious!
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