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They say the way to a loved one’s heart is through their stomach, and what better way to hit your target than a themey Valentine’s dessert board filled with your (and their) favorite foods?! My easy charcuterie board formula takes all the intimidation and guesswork out of arranging a stunning grazing tray, making it easier than ever to treat your sweetheart this Valentine’s Day.

A Valentine's Day themed charcuterie board filled with pink, red, and white cookies, candies, pretzels, fruits, and chocolates.

Before You Get Started

All of the specific types of foods listed below are just suggestions – feel free to use what you like and omit what you don’t!
Don’t forget to grab some small bowls or ramekins if you don’t have any already. They’re a must if you’re including dips or honey, but they’re also a great way to add color or shapes and to corral smaller (or messier) foods.

How to Make a Perfect Grazing Board

See recipe card below for full list of measurements, ingredients, and instructions.

The Charcuterie Formula.

Charcuterie boards might look intimidating, but I promise, they’re really not! In fact, making them gets easier and easier each time you do it. If you’re not sure where to start, just focus on the basics:

One dessert grazing board = (2 types of cheese) + (2 dips) + (2 types of cookies) + (2 types of crackers) + (2 types of chocolates) + (2 types of candy) + (2 types of fruit) + (2 dipping vessels) + (fun extras).

I recommend using at least 2 items from each category, but that’s just a starting point! Scale things up or down as needed based on the number of people you’re feeding, and omit or replace anything you don’t like.

What I Love About This Recipe

Charcuterie boards are maybe my favorite thing, and I am loving the surge in popularity they’ve been having. Maybe it’s the “grown up Lunchable” aspect appealing to my millennial heart. I just think they’re so much fun to make, and you can do literally ANYTHING with them! On a specialty diet? You can easily do a Whole30 grazing board or a keto charcuterie board. Planning a party? Change up the theme for Halloween, Christmas, the Super Bowl, or – you guessed it – Valentine’s Day.

Recipe Variations

One of the very best things about a dessert board or charcuterie tray is how customizable they are. Seriously! Literally anything you like can go on a board, and you can leave off or replace anything you don’t like.

Cheeses

I almost always include a goat cheese because it’s so delightfully tangy, but any type of cheese you like will work! Brie, camembert, gouda, even cubes of pepperjack, cheddar, and mozzarella. I like to pair a soft cheese with a harder cheese for a little textural variety. You could also knock out two birds with one component and opt for something like a 3-Ingredient Boursin Dip.

Dips

You can’t beat a chocolate-hazelnut spread, in my opinion, but that’s not the only option! For a chilled, fluffy dip, whip up a batch of my “hot” cocoa dip. Prefer your chocolate thick and creamy? Check out my chocolate mousse dip (or my chocolate avocado mousse) instead.

I usually do one chocolate dip and one not-chocolate dip like honey, caramel, yogurt dip, cream cheese dip, or strawberry dip. You could also use raspberry or strawberry jam!

Cookies

There are so many cookie options for a dessert board, I don’t even know where to begin. You could use small macarons, fruit-filled thumbprint cookies, Thin Mints, classic or golden Oreos, dipping cookies like Biscoff, waffle cookies, or pirouettes. For a Valentine’s dessert board specifically, include some heart-shaped shortbread cookies (with or without sprinkles), pink and red frosted sugar cookies, red velvet sandwich cookies, or wedding cookies.

Sweets

Not everyone likes chocolate, so make sure you cater your board to your (and your sweetheart’s!) preferences. Truffles, homemade cheesecake balls, Hershey Kisses, M&Ms, and Ghirardelli squares are tried-and-true, but you could also throw in some gummy bears or sour candies or conversation hearts. Maybe you really love hard caramels or Red Hots or bite-size cherry Twizzlers. Anything goes!

Fruits

Dessert doesn’t have to mean candy and cookies and cake. Add a fresh touch with strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, red grapes, and even apples if you’re serving them quickly.

Crackers

Water crackers are fabulous grazing board components because they’re so simple and go so well with cheeses. Likewise, I highly recommend pretzel crisps because they’re so versatile and go well with sweet and savory components.

Fun Extras

Dipped pretzels. Praline or glazed pecans. Fresh flowers. Small decorations. Meringues or marshmallows. These can be more foods or candies, but they don’t have to be! Use the extras to add finishing touches and make your board super unique.

Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions or variations listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.

Valentine’s Dessert Board