Valentine’s Day Dessert Board

Tis the season of love and we’re celebrating with a Valentine’s day dessert board. This dessert board is full of fruit, candy, cookies, and salty snacks, and finished off with some pink roses. There’s a little something for everybody. It’s kid-friendly, customizable for food restrictions, and easy to throw together last minute. Wow your guests and delight your little ones with this Valentine’s day dessert board full of heart-shaped sweet treats.

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What To Include In A Valentine’s Day Dessert Board

Creative spins on the classic charcuterie board have been all the rage recently and I am here for it. No longer are we binding ourselves to the rules of cured meats and cheeses and instead we’re branching out with textures, colors, and palettes to reflect the time of year or current holiday. In the fall, I shared how to make a kid-friendly fall cheese board, then at Christmastime I shared a hot chocolate themed dessert board. Now, let’s talk Valentine’s day. I always like to start building a charcuterie board off of something that inspires me. Then, I build around that. Dessert boards are more about assembly and less about cooking or baking. You can find what you need at the grocery store, or specialty food stores. Whether you’re going for sweet, savory, or a mixture of both, remember to keep it colorful and full of different flavors and textures.

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How To Assemble A Dessert Board

You can use practically anything for your board. I have a marble pastry slab that I use from Sur La Table for larger gatherings. A small, slate cheese board I picked up at my local grocery store is what I use for smaller gatherings. Lastly, I have a wooden serving board I found at TJ Maxx when I want a more rustic/natural look. When I’m putting a charcuterie board together, I start with something that inspires me. I found these gluten-free heart-shaped pastries in the bakery (pictured below) and built around that.

What you’ll need to make a Valentine’s day dessert board

I like to have a mixture of healthy sweets to balance out the processed sweets. I also like to add something crunchy to round out the textures of the soft fruit.

• Fresh Fruit: fresh fruit adds pretty, natural colors to a dessert board. Blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries all work well for Valentine’s day.
• Chocolate covered pretzels: create your own chocolate covered pretzels by dipping into melted Ghirardelli white or dark chocolate. Or, pick up a bag at the grocery store.
• Popcorn: I used kettle corn to stay in the theme of sweets, but there are all sorts of flavored popcorn you can use depending on your creative direction. The popcorn adds a nice, crunchy texture to balance out the soft fruit.
• Cookies: search your local grocery store’s bakery section for holiday-themed cookies. I found these meringue and gluten-free heart-shaped cookies at Sprouts. I like to have options for people who have food restrictions and these were perfect!
• Candy: Check Trader Joe’s, Target, or the Dollar Store for Valentine’s day themed twists on classic candy staples. I found some candy heart jellies at the dollar store and so many more options at Target.
• Fresh flowers: while not edible, I love the look of arranging fresh flowers to complete the look of a charcuterie board. I used pink roses, trimmed off the stems, and arranged on the outer edges of the board.

Use this list to inspire you, but take your own creative spin and make this your own!

Mary Beth Johnson is a writer based in Atlanta, GA. She is currently writing her first book in between school drop off and laundry piles.

She can be found every day on Instagram and at the local coffee shop.