Hot Chocolate Charcuterie Dessert Board

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What is a party in the winter without hot chocolate? We are huge hot cocoa fans over here and LOVE a good dessert board. Check out this awesome way to present hot chocolate and all of its toppings to your guests! We made a hot chocolate charcuterie dessert board and guess what? It is even budget friendly, as all of the ingredients came from the dollar store! Let’s dig in and get creating!

Grazing Boards for Parties

A couple of years ago I put together my very first cheese board. It was Christmas time and we are hosting a Christmas Eve dinner for the family. I used various cheeses and arranged them into the shape of a Christmas tree. It came out pretty cute, if I do say so myself! We served crackers on the side and I have duplicated the same board a few times since then.

The allure of offering a grazing bar at a party is pretty obvious. You can incorporate so many different finger foods in one spread. Grazing boards are easy to theme for different occasions! You can choose foods by type, texture, color, etc. to fit your theme.

Charcuterie boards offer many different food choices and guests can serve themselves, which is always helpful!

Traditional Charcuterie Boards

I have always loved the concept behind the charcuterie board. A traditional charcuterie board contains a variety of sliced cheeses and meats. Crackers, fruit, nuts and various spreads are typically incorporated onto the board as well.

You can serve a charcuterie board on well, a board (such as a wooden cheese board, large platter or a wooden tray) or on plates or other serving dishes. One really fun presentation idea is to cover a portion of your counter, island, or table with butcher paper and spread the food across a large area!

Charcuterie Boards Can Be a Full Meal

Depending on how many different foods you use on your board (and how much of that food you use!), you could absolutely set up a charcuterie spread that serves as the entire meal for your guests.

You could even offer several different boards, each one having a different theme.

But of course, let’s not forget about our FAVORITE kind of board: THE DESSERT BOARD! These boards are perfect for any holiday party!

Dessert Charcuterie Boards

Out of all of the boards we have made, served and enjoyed to guests over the years, our dessert boards always get the most compliments! It started innocently enough. We were hosting the aforementioned Christmas Eve dinner and I was trying to decide what desserts to serve. I couldn’t settle on just one or two. That is when I had the idea to round up lots of different treats and put them together in one board. With that, the Christmas dessert charcuterie board was born!

Since then we have made more dessert grazing boards!P

Check them out:

These boards are just bursting with eye popping color! They are always the shining gem of our spread.

Alternatives to the Hot Chocolate Bar

Next to the dessert boards, we almost always serve hot chocolate with lots of toppings at our parties. Hot chocolate is delicious on its own, yes. However there are all kinds of toppings (including candy, whipped cream and marshmallows) that you can add to a mug of hot cocoa to up its YUM factor!

Many times we have set up a hot chocolate bar.

A really fun alternative to a hot cocoa bar is a HOT CHOCOLATE DESSERT BOARD!

How to Make a Hot Chocolate Charcuterie Board

How fun is this board?

It is so colorful and pretty. The candy canes and marshmallows give it a decidedly winter feel.

Here are some tips for assembling your hot cocoa board:

Use small bowls – Use various small dishes and jars to hold the loose candies and sprinkles.

Serve hot cocoa in a slow cooker – If you really want to make things easy on your guests, make up a homemade hot chocolate recipe ahead of time and serve it in a slow cooker placed next to your hot chocolate board.

Make it kid friendly – Will your party have kids in attendance? Kids LOVE hot chocolate boards and bars! Have non-breakable mugs and dishes on hand if you plan to let kids DIY their own cocoa creations.