With the holidays you usually have parties, events, or just family gathering around a table playing games and sharing stories. Having a fun way to serve up treats is a must, and so holiday dessert charcuterie board is my solution! While you can add anything you want to this board, I love these particular semi-homemade ideas that are filled with classic flavors and easy to pull together in no time to add to your favorite platter.
Holiday Dessert Charcuterie Board
Whether you call it a grazing board or a charcuterie board, these platters of deliciousness are a great addition to your holiday menu. I love that you can make these as big or as little as you want and place them as part of a buffet or the centerpiece to your table. This one is focused on our favorite recent recipes using candy melts to coat snacks from the grocery store. It's a great way to take something already yummy and kick it up a notch!
If you like this board, you might also like the kid-friendly Oreo charcuterie board or the hot cocoa charcuterie board ideas we've also shared. Both are easy to throw together and perfect for sharing with friends and family.
What Does the Word Charcuterie Mean?
Technically, charcuterie is cold cooked meats. Thus, the popular charcuterie board is all about meats and cheese with accompaniments. In recent years, this term has been used to describe many different types of grazing boards. While technically, it's only truly those made with cold meats, you will often see it used in reference to any specialty small bites board whether sweet or savory.
It has become popular to call any appetizer platter a charcuterie board. While I try to call them grazing boards more often, it's okay to borrow this word to describe what you are serving. It's familiar, easy, and loved by most.
What is Usually on a Charcuterie Board?
Most grazing boards contain a variety of textures, flavors, and a little sweet and savory. A traditional board will include 2-3 cured types of meat or sausages, 2-3 kinds of cheese with different textures and flavor profiles, some nuts or seeds, and something sweet to cut through the richness of the meats. You'll also find honey, jam, preserves, berries, and occasionally some kind of chocolate. The goal is to build something with flavors that pair well or play off each other with different textures.
For this board, the focus is on holiday-themed desserts. Chocolate and Oreo cookies are the focus here, but really it's a holiday theme. The Christmas candy and treats idea carries through this board nicely. To cut the sweetness, the pretzel rods and dipped mini pretzels work wonderfully. A mixture of dark, milk and white chocolate alongside some peppermint in candy canes makes it complete.
What's on This Dessert Board?
- White chocolate-dipped Oreo cookies
- Caramel and chocolate pretzel rods
- Chocolate covered strawberries
- Oreo pops
- Chocolate covered pretzel twists
- Christmas Hershey's kisses
What Else Goes on a Dessert Charcuterie Board?
Following this theme, you can add tons of other classic treats to the board. I love anything with peppermint, cake, cookies, and a variety of chocolate types. So, that's what adds well to the theme of this board nicely. Below are a few more recipes that would easily fit into this board for delicious extras everyone would love.
- Peppermint Christmas Truffle Recipe
- Copycat Subway White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
- Brownie Batter Dip Recipe
- Easy Christmas Fudge Recipe
- Christmas Tree Marshmallow Pops
- Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies
- Mickey Christmas Bark Recipe
- Turtle Hot Cocoa Bombs
- Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Mix in match flavors that fit your preferences. If nobody likes dark chocolate, then don't add that to the board. If you need gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, or similar items, look for more options in the pretzels, cookies, and sprinkles to suit your needs. There is no right or wrong way to build your board.
How to Assemble a Dessert Charcuterie Board
Start with the largest items and place them on your board.
Place your strawberries into paper liners and place them randomly around the board.
Add in individual cookies.
Fill in empty spots with dipped miniature pretzel twists or candy pieces.
More Holiday Dessert Recipes
If you want more traditional items on your holiday dessert menu, then we definitely have those covered as well. There are tons of great ideas that can make your holiday amazing.
I love starting with something yummy like the popular hot cocoa bombs everyone is making lately. I've shared basic ones like the unicorn hot cocoa bomb, milk chocolate hot chocolate bombs, and white chocolate hot cocoa bombs. You might also enjoy the fun of making Mickey Mouse hot cocoa bombs for your kids.
My kids love when I add Christmas Grinch fudge, Mickey Mouse Christmas fudge, mint chocolate chip fudge, or easy chocolate truffles. You can also add in cranberry pinwheel cookies, classic chocolate chip cookies, double chocolate cookie recipes, or fun little snowman sugar cookies.
To finish off your holiday dessert feast, take some time to enjoy all of the best candies. I happen to love candy canes, but you will also find peppermint flavored candies, fun chocolate mints, and of course, the always classic chocolate-covered cherries.
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