Easter Candy Charcuterie Board For An After-Dinner Treat (2024)

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Easter Candy Charcuterie Board For An After-Dinner Treat

March 26, 2024 at 3:29 pm · Filed under , Desserts, Easter, The Nibble, Tip Of The Day

Here’s a crowd pleaser of an idea for Easter dinner: an Easter candy “charcuterie board” (platter) at the end of the meal, instead of petit fours*.

Candies and cookies take the place of the meats on an actual charcuterie board†.

We serve ours at the end of the meal, after dessert, with coffee.

You can either create a platter that’s kid-friendly, or a “gourmet” version for the sophisticated foodie crowd, with artisan Easter candies.

You can substitute Easter cookies instead, or combine cookies and candy.

If you’re creating an elegant board for connoisseurs, head to your favorite chocolatiers and augment with petite cookies like mini macarons.

And you can apply the same principles to a Christmas candy or Valentine candy charcuterie board. It’s an all-celebration concept.

And because it’s arranged in advance, you can hide the board from your guests and bring it out as an after-dinner surprise.

Thanks to the International Charcuterie Association for inspiring this article.

CREATE YOUR CANDY CHARCUTERIE BOARD

STEP 1: Select a tray, platter, or cheese board as the base. It doesn’t have to be large; after eating dinner, people’s capacity for candy will be smaller. Trays with a rim are better to contain the candies after people start to dig in.

Provide small paper or plastic cups (muffin/cupcake liners work) and serving spoons for people can help themselves.

STEP 2: Pick Your Treats

Focus on the color palette (as in the photos) to make your board pop.

Check out candies in Easter colors or pastels, or gold or color-foil-wrapped:

Candy sticks

Chocolate–coated mini pretzels

Gum drops

Jelly beans

M&Ms

Marshmallows or Peeps

Mini chocolate bunnies (check out the foiled wrapped bunnies from Lindt, photo #4)

Mini chocolate/malted eggs

Mini cookies

Mini PB cups or Reese’s mini PB eggs

Sour lemon drops or other sour candy

Anything else that looks good

Also look for

Candy grass (photo #3) to decorate the board and roll into nests to hold jelly beans

*FOOD 101: MIGNARDISES (PETIT-FOURS) & FRIANDISES

These are different types of sweets served at the end of a meal with coffee. Liqueurs can also be served.

Mignardises (min-yar-DEEZ), from the French for “preciousness,” belong to the group of after-dinner cookies called petit-fours (French for “small baked pastries”).

Petit-fours (pronounced petty-foor) are tiny cakes or other tiny baked goods, like mini macaroons and other mini cookies. The words are French for “small ovens” but mean “small baked pastries.”

There are many varieties of petit-four; the most familiar in the U.S. is a one-inch-square layered sponge cake, filled with butter cream and iced in a variety of colored fondants, often with tiny roses or other piped embellishments (photo #6). A truly American addition to a petit-fours plate would be mini cupcakes.

In France, this style is not common; and there are confections that can be included on a petit-fours plate. See Friandises, below. that are not baked at all.

There are two styles of petit-fours: glacée (iced) and sec (dry).

Petit-fours glacées or frais (fresh) include filled and/or iced petit-fours, miniature babas, miniature éclairs, tiny iced cakes and tartlets.

Petit-fours secs (i.e., they don’t have to be eaten fresh like cake) include small cookies, macaroons, madeleines, meringues, palmiers and tuiles.

Friandises (free-yon-DEEZ), from the French for “delicate,” are another interchangeable term.

While some people simply include them under the banner of petit-fours, friandises are actually non-baked confections such as glazed or chocolate-dipped fruit, marzipan, small truffles and other chocolates (e.g. bonbons), marzipan, and nut clusters.

MORE EASTER TREATS

> The history of Easter candy and the Easter basket.

> The history of Easter eggs.

> The history of the Easter ham.

________________

†Charcuterie, a popular first course or board to serve with co*cktails, can include ballotines, confit, galantines, pâtés, sausages, terrines, primarily made from pork. Here’s more about them.

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[1] It’s easy to put together an Easter “charcuterie” board, substituting candy for charcuterie (photo © Taste Of Home | TMB Studio).

[2] A mixture of cookies and candy (photo © Lil Luna—here’s how she made it).

[3] Candy grass can hold jelly beans or other candy, then eaten (photo © The Typical Mom.

[4] Gold foil-wrapped mini bunnies add glimmer to the board (photo © Lindt USA).

[5] A mix of candy and cookies, with an army of chicken and bunny Peeps (photo © Galloway Grazes | Instagram).

[6] Easter petit-fours (photo © Mackenzie Ltd.).

[7] Modern mignardises: We have always loved these speckled eggs with candy exteriors and silken ganache insides from artisan chocolatier Fritz Knipschildt | Chocopologie (photo © Williams Sonoma).

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Easter Candy Charcuterie Board For An After-Dinner Treat? ›

Serving chicken after a charcuterie board can offer a delightful transition in flavors, providing a lighter and more diverse option after the savory and often rich assortment of cured meats. Chicken is incredibly versatile and can be prepared in various ways, from grilled and roasted to braised or served in salads.

Keep Reading ›

What to serve for dinner after charcuterie board? ›

Find Out More ›

What do you put on an Easter charcuterie board? ›

Bunny And Chic-shaped Cheese

You can achieve this board with cutters. There are various cutters in shapes like an egg, bunnies, bunny ears, and more. Complete the board with berries, pistachios, dried fruit, jelly beans, and traditional easter sweets like Cadbury eggs and chick-shaped marshmallows.

What should every charcuterie board have? ›

This includes cooked and cured meat products like hams, sausages, terrines, and pâtés. While traditionally that was the jest of it, these days a charcuterie board implies a spread of cured meats, cheeses, fresh fruits, spreads, crackers, and breads.

Discover More Details ›

Does chocolate go on a charcuterie board? ›

Swapping savory cheese for sweet chocolate is a wonderful way to enjoy diverse and decadent flavors. To inspire you in designing your chocolate charcuterie board, here are all the tips, tricks, and treats you need to know to create a spread that would leave any chocolate aficionado in awe.

Is charcuterie enough for dinner? ›

Whether I'm making a cheese and charcuterie platter for a weeknight dinner or summer entertaining, the board must hit all the marks for menu and presentation. No matter the reason, it should offer enough sustenance to be filling and nutritious as a meal. That's this dinner-worthy charcuterie board.

What spreads go with charcuterie? ›

Dips and jams or preserves will balance out your salty and dry meats and cheeses. Consider offering some fig spread or apricot jam, as they pair divinely with many different charcuterie eats. Stone ground mustard, hummus, and honey are also popular attractions on a charcuterie board.

Get More Info Here ›