"Charcuterie Boards are just grown up Lunchables."
Grown up Lunchable or not; we love snack lunches in this house and this Halloween Charcuterie Board hits the spot!
Look What I Made!!! I did that! Alright, I actually just opened some packages and arranged it all pretty like on a cutting board. I did some baking and cutting though.
Charcuterie Boards are SO trendy right now. People are creating beautiful works of art out of food and it's taking the internet by storm. We can thank the French for this delicious snack board idea. They were the ones to create meat and fruit trays back in the 15th century.
The basic goal of charcuterie board is to create a pleasing contrast between the different aspects in each morsel. Aside from them looking pretty, you get to experience a variety of flavors and textures. Our parents raised us to not play with our food; yet here we are. People are making rose flowers out of salami and getting paid thousands to create stunning works of art out of food for events.
Ingredients for any charcuterie board
A variety of cheese; including soft and hard cheese
Nuts (almonds, cashews, and pistachios, etc.)
Fruits; choose based on the season but have a variety of options
Dried Fruits; apricots, cranberries, etc.
Vegetables; carrots, celery, broccoli, peppers, etc.
Crackers; Pretzel Thins, Ritz, Wheat Thins, Popcorn, etc.
Meats; sliced meat like salami or beef sticks
Olives
Sweets; like small chocolates, cookies, candy, etc.
Hummus, honey, dijon mustard, olive tapenade or other dips
Instructions:
Start by visualizing how you want the board to look. You want to create intrust and movement for the eyes. You can use small bowls or ramekins to hold nuts, olives, fruits, dips, etc. Avoid placing them all close together. You can see I used two bowls and placed one in opposite corners of each other.
Fill bowls with dip, nuts, olives, or dried fruit.
Add cheese and place crackers. Keeping each item in groups.
Add meat, layered or rolled. You can choose how you want it displayed.
Add fruits and vegetables.
Add chocolates, cookies, or other sweets if you would like.
Fill in gaps with nuts or dried berries.
I joined some other mama's at @thediymoms to put together some Halloween Charcuterie inspiration. I have got to tell you, this was so much fun! I don't normally make these unless it's a party. I had a lot of fun putting this together and later enjoying it for lunch with my son. I baked a box of Pillsbury Halloween pumpkin sugar cookies, sliced an apple up, and served it with caramel dip. I arranged red grapes near the apples to keep all the fruit together. On the other side, I cubed some cheddar cheese and colby jack cheese. I dumped half a can of black olives into a smaller dish and filled in the gaps with sea salt popcorn topped with Halloween shaped pretzels. A creepy spider, some skeleton hands, and we have a spooky party Charcuterie Board that didn't take too much fussing!
I think it would be so much fun to make these again in the future for a family movie night. My kids would have so fun making this together with me. These boards would even be romantic for a date night in while binging your favorite tv series together or for a girls night with wine. If you would like to see more ideas for making your own charcuterie boards, go check out my friends at @thediymoms on Instagram!
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