Valentine's Day Dessert Board

A Valentine's Day Dessert Charcuterie Board is a fun and easy way to celebrate this holiday of love! Just grab a large board or baking sheet, some inexpensive heart-shaped bowls, and load it up with your favorite goodies and fresh fruit for a spread the is sure to make everyone fall in love!

Table of Contents

1. What You'll Need
2. How to Assemble a Valentine's Day Board
3. Best Places to Find Items for a Valentine's Day Dessert Board
4. Tips for Success
5. More Valentine's Day Recipes
6. Valentine's Day Dessert Charcuterie Board Recipe

Dessert charcuterie boards are such a fun way to put together a showstopping display of treats to make any occasion more special. The possibilities are endless and they never fail to impress friends and family with the eye-catching display of treats and goodies that are perfect for grazing.

This Valentine's Day-themed dessert board was so fun to put together using some of our favorite treats and a few small heart-shaped bowls that I picked up at the Target dollar spot a few years ago. It makes a great dessert spread for a Galentine's Day party or to surprise your kids with when they get home from school during the month of February!

What You'll Need

• Large board or tray - You can use something already in your house like a baking sheet or large wooden cutting board or grab something cute and heart-shaped. There are always lots of great finds at stores like Target or the dollar store this time of year. I grabbed this pink baking sheet from HomeGoods for like $8.
• Small bowls or containers - Again, I picked up these pink and red heart shaped bowls a few years ago. They were nested sets with a larger and smaller bowl for maybe $3 and we have used them so much over the years!
• Something Fresh - I love adding a fresh element to our dessert boards to cut the sweetness. Something like ripe strawberries or fresh cherries like I've used here are great. Raspberries would be fun too!
• Crunchy - Charcuterie boards and dessert boards are all about presenting contrasts in textures and flavors. So I like to include something crunchy like popcorn, chocolate covered pretzels, wafer cookies, Mother's Frosted Valentine's Day edition animal cookies, Oreos, and muddy buddies on my Valentine's Day dessert board.
• Chewy - Marshmallows and sour licorice straws are my go-to choices! Jelly beans, Swedish fish, Dots, cinnamon hearts or cinnamon bears, and other chewy candies would also be good.
• Chocolates - I feel like it would be hard to put together a satisfying Valentine's Day dessert board without some chocolate elements. Lindt truffles, Dove hearts, seasonal M&M's, and Hershey's kisses are all great choices. But so are dozens of other options. Don't overlook the regular candy aisle, not just the seasonal aisle, because that's where you are likely to find like the Hershey's Cookies'N'Creme drops. You could also unwrap some Hershey's Cookies'N'Creme candy bars and break them into squares instead.
• Homemade - You don't have to include a homemade element, but it's a nice touch to include something like puppy chow, macarons, heart-shaped linzer cookies, mini cupcakes, mini brownie bites, or mini chocolate chip cookies on your dessert board. It helps it feel a little more personal.

How to Assemble a Valentine's Day Board

1. Place your large items like ramekins or bowls first. These take up the bulk of the board visually and are helpful for containing smaller elements like M&M's, popcorn, muddy buddies, and other small candies. They anchor the board and then you can build around them.

2. Build out areas with variety of colors and shapes for visual interest. I like to think about contrast and drawing the eye around the board. For example, I will place something glossy or shiny like the cherries or fresh fruit next to something matter looking like wafer cookies or popcorn. And I try to alternate pinks, reds, and whites to establish the holiday theme.
3. Fill in gaps. Use smaller items to fill in sparse areas on your board. This is where I use things like chocolate covered pretzels, large marshmallows, or wrapped Hershey's Hugs or Dove hearts to fill in empty spaces so the board looks generous.

Best Places to Find Items for a Valentine's Day Dessert Board

• Target - Their holiday aisle is always packed with so many great options to choose from!
• Trader Joe's - Some of our favorites include their X's and O's gummies and the chocolate covered cherries and almonds.
• HomeGoods - They usually have a good selection of seasonal treats like flavored gourmet popcorn or other candies like the pink and white striped marshmallows I used on this board.

Tips for Success

• Choosing a board. You want to choose the right size board or pan to use so it looks well-filled and not sparse. Size your board up or down depending on how many you are serving.
• Try for variety. Try to think about including different textures, flavors, and colors. Try not to load all the chocolate on one side of the board and all the fruit on the other. Thoughtful assembly creates a more beautiful visual feast for the eyes!

More Valentine's Day Recipes

• Chocolate Covered Strawberries
• Cupid Crunch Valentine Chex Mix
• Chocolate Truffles
• Red Velvet Cupcakes
• Raspberry Chocolate Tart

Valentine's Day

Red Velvet Kiss Cookies

Cookies

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

Cake

Valentine's Day Petit Fours