Valentine's Day Dessert Board

Nothing says "Valentine's Day" quite like a pile of sweets! I've made dessert charcuterie boards for Fall and Christmas in the past, so making one for Valentine's Day was absolutely necessary! While I'd love to serve this up to a group of friends, that's not in the cards this year. That said, my family wholeheartedly enjoyed this Valentine's Day Dessert Board!

Making a big tray of mini desserts isn't anything new, but with this Valentine's Day Dessert Board, you can mix and match flavors to find your favorite treat!

Below I have labeled all the sweets on my board. Some have recipes on the blog...check out the "Other posts you may like" links at the end of the post!

There's definitely no rules here, but this was my thought process for putting together my board:

Flavors. For me, this was key to determine up front. You definitely want the flavors of the sweets on your board to complement each other. A good way to ensure this is to stick with seasonal flavors. Once you have your flavors determined, start to think about combinations of those flavors. For my Valentine's Day board, I went with: chocolate, berries, honey, nutella, vanilla, espresso, and champagne!

Textures. I wanted to make sure that there were a variety of textures to mix-and-match on the board. Think: soft, chewy, crunchy, crisp, smooth.

Dippers. Now that you've considered flavors and textures, try to determine some dippers! That is, plain(ish) treats that you can jazz up with a dip or spread. I made my [Honey Sugar Cookies], [Chocolate Espresso Shortbread] (minus the chocolate), [Dark Chocolate Madeleines], and honey strawberry marshmallows. Other dipper ideas: plain mini doughnuts, rice krispie treats, bite-size pieces of pound cake or sweet bread, and brownie/blondie bites!

Dips. This is where you can think about the fun flavors to pair with your dippers! I chose to make a strawberry marshmallow dip and a nutella cheesecake dip for my Valentine's Day board. You could also choose to include jams, jellies, or nut butters!

Ready-made Items. I also wanted to have some ready-made items on my board for additional grazing opportunities. No dipping or spreading, just grab and enjoy! I included mini [Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream], strawberry meringues, chocolate-covered graham crackers, chocolate-covered strawberries, raspberry licorice, ruby chocolate, and heart candies. Other good options would be glazed or frosted doughnuts, caramels, macarons, and mini pies.

Colors. Once you've determined what treats you'd like to include, think about what colors will be on your board. Think about adding complimentary colors of frosting, sprinkles, or garnishes. I chose a very Valentine's Day-appropriate color palette of mostly pinks and reds. In hindsight, I wish I had done something to add color to the portion of the board with those DARK Chocolate Madeleines, but they sure were delicious! (I ate waaaay too many dipped in that strawberry marshmallow dip!!)