Easy Valentine's Day Dessert Board
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This easy Valentine's Day Dessert Board is a fun way to treat friends and family with all things heart-shaped and filled with love. Packed with treats for all, from simple store-bought goodies to homemade Valentine's Day desserts, it takes minutes to make and is perfect for a festive holiday.
Think pink, red, white, lacy, savory, juicy, chocolaty, tangy... and absolutely delicious. And you'll then know what this Valentine's Day Dessert Board is all about!
I love treating my family and friends to boards of all kinds. I've published several on the website for different occasions. All are designed for delicious food and a fun way to connect with others around us.
Plus, it's a super easy way to entertain, and I've yet to meet anyone who doesn't love them. It's casual, fun, and a great way to encourage gathering, chatting, and simple involvement.
What is a Valentine's Day Dessert Board?
Much like a charcuterie board, a dessert board is a fun way to share and serve treats. A Valentine's Day Dessert Board makes a party out of easy-to-find and often inexpensive holiday treats. Festive enough for company, easy enough for a weeknight party.
Do you remember The Sound of Music's song, "A Few of My Favorite Things?" Of course you do... Isn't it the best?! For me, this Valentine's dessert board is about that! A few of our favorite treats-- on a heart-shaped board!
One of the things I love about food boards of any kind, whether they be charcuterie boards, dessert boards, or holiday boards, is that they are not only easy but different every time you make them.
Here's what I came up with for this year's Valentine's Day Dessert Board.
Start the Board with Fruit
I love adding fresh fruit to classic charcuterie boards, but also dessert boards. Fruits are sweet but also healthy, giving family and friends healthier options, even on a dessert board. Plus, it's delicious and thoughtful!
In this dessert board, I also included some dried fruit options too. I chose them for color and how well my family likes them. Choose both fruit and dried fruit that your guests will love. Here is a list of the fruit items I included in this simple Valentine's Day Dessert Board.
Fresh Fruit
- Fresh Strawberries
- Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
- Fresh seedless red grapes
Dried Fruit
- Banana Chips
- Apple Chips
- Dried cranberries
Nuts & Salty Treats
I also love to include nuts on all my charcuterie boards, including dessert boards. I love the texture and options it brings. Here are some ideas:
- Pistachios
- Mixed Nuts
- Candied Mixed Nuts (Recipe link)
- Chocolate covered almonds (or any nut)
- Candied pecans or plain
- Candied walnuts or plain
- Pretzels: like yogurt covered pretzels
How to Make Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
Strawberries are the perfect fruit for Valentine's Day. And when you dip them in chocolate, they become a decadently delicious treat perfect for the occasion.
All you need is meltable chocolate (I used both white chocolate and milk chocolate) and fresh, beautiful strawberries with good color, and if the greens on top look good, all the better.
However, during winter, in my neck of the woods, that can be challenging.
Melt the chocolate, dip the strawberries, and let harden on a rack for a few minutes.
I found a kit at Target that I used for this post. It was incredibly easy and contained meltable chocolate along with Valentine's Day sprinkles, icing, and cute heart-shaped toothpicks. Here's a link:
Treats for the Dessert Board
Of course, we'll pack the fun treats for this special dessert board. You can be so creative with both homemade and store-bought options. I included both in this easy board, and seriously, it only took me about 5 minutes to put it together.
I did some planning and baked a couple of items for the board. However, you can buy everything if you wish for a super easy and quick dessert board. Here's what I included on this board with product links if I could find them online:
- Valentine's Day Crack (recipe link)
- Mini Chocolate Cupcakes with Pink Frosting (Local grocery bakery)
- Valentine's Day M&Ms
- Strawberry Dipping Kit
- Mini Heart Marshmallows
- Reese's Miniature Blossom Peanut Butter Cups
- Heart Shaped Macarons (Costco)
- Yogurt covered pretzels
- Pink Wafer Cookies
- Vanilla Waffle Cookies (I love the lacy texture of these Italian pizzelle-type cookies. My favorite brand is Fogliani, which you can find on Amazon).
- Chocolate Shortbread Cookies (Valentine's Day can't exist without chocolate. When you combine it with shortbread, it's quite heavenly. I'm using Rustic Bakery Chocolate Cacao Nib shortbread -available on Amazon).
Let's Make It
Once you've decided on what you're adding to your board, the rest is simple, fun, and quick. Be creative with your favorite festive treats (I forgot to add chocolate hearts to mine!) The most important thing to remember is to have fun!
There is no right or wrong way to make a dessert board. The best tip is to make it full and overflowing!
- Start with containers: This helps shape your board and reminds you where to put items you want to emphasize. If you dip (like chocolate), dedicate a container for that. I added the Valentine's Day Crack to one container and filled the other with banana chips and festive M&M's.
- Arrange the fruit: Place the fruit around the board.
- Place the desserts: Fill the board with chocolates, candies, and treats. Fill in the empty space with nuts, dried fruit, or small items, such as individual grapes or chocolate hearts.
- Add dessert plates: Don't be afraid to add additional plates just off the board for items that don't easily fit onto the board. I did this with the mini chocolate cupcakes.
- Garnish with hearts: Look for ways to incorporate hearts throughout the dessert board. From marshmallows to heart-shaped containers, or even toothpicks with small heart shapes on the top add festive Valentine's Day flair!
More Charcuterie Board Ideas
It's party time at my house when the boards come out. From breakfast or brunch to game days or simply light meals on a Saturday, our menu offers a variety of options. Here are some more ideas for creating Charcuterie Boards:
More Valentine's Day Recipes You May Also Love
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How to Make an Easy Valentine's Day Dessert Board
Equipment
Ingredients
Accompaniments (Choose 2-3)
- 2-3 Fresh fruit and berries: grapes, strawberries, banana slices
- 2-3 Dried fruit: raisins or dried cranberries for color
- 1 Snack mixes: sweet and salty mixes like Valentine's Day Crack
- 1-2 Candy: chocolate hearts, Valentine's Day M&Ms, or your favorites
- 1-2 Savory: Sweet and salty treats like nuts, candied nuts, and yogurt-covered pretzels
Baked Treats
- Cookies store-bought or homemade
- Baked Treats: like cupcakes, quick breads, or Brownie Bites
Instructions
- Arrange the large items on a serving board, like empty containers and large pieces of fruit or treats.
- Then fill in the board with the dried fruits, nuts, spreads, and finger foods like cookies and candy. Keep delicate items to the edges of the board, like these waffle cookies, and fill in the blank spaces with additional nuts and grape clusters.
Video
Notes
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
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