2020 brought us a lot of unexpected things such as Tiger King and a massive outage of toilet paper. But the charcuterie board was one of the best. While we haven’t done much entertaining over the year to show off our newfound skills, all the spare time we’ve had has helped us perfect the craft of curating the perfect selection of meat and cheeses.
However this holiday season, many are putting a twist on the classic board and are making them for an even better reason; hot chocolate.
Although Christmas dinners may be cancelled (or really low key this year), some families are opting for an outside meeting or a COVID friendly approach. The hot chocolate charcuterie board is the perfect way to showcase your creativity, stay warm, be unique and celebrate the holidays in a fun way.
But how do you make one? Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through it step by step.
My family opted for an outdoor Thanksgiving dinner this year and we decided that a hot chocolate bar would be a fun way to keep warm while socially distanced around a fire. We put a charcuterie twist on it and it was a massive success and surprisingly nowhere near as expensive as a traditional board. Oh, and it made for great fun making fancy hot chocolate and comparing everyone’s designs-in case you’re a competitive person too.
Here’s what you need:
- A crock pot
- A board/platter
- Hot chocolate mix
- A ladle
- Mini serving bowls
- Mini serving spoons
- Cups/mugs
- Mini marshmallows
- Peppermint candies
- Candy canes
- Caramel cubes
- Wafer sticks
- Cinnamon hearts
- Chocolate Chips
- Whipped cream
- Shavings (caramel, butterscotch or chocolate)
- Drizzle (caramel, butterscotch or chocolate)
Step One:
Plug in a crock pot where you plan on serving your festive beverages. Fill it with hot water and put it on the lowest setting (or a very low setting in general). Add your hot chocolate mix and let it simmer.
Please note: you will have to keep topping up the hot chocolate as the event goes on, since people will be drinking it quickly.
Step Two:
Taking your mini serving bowls, fill it with your tiny items such as your chocolate chips.( You can also crush a few candy canes and put it in another bowl). Once filled to your satisfaction, place on board.
Step Three:
Place your assortment of toppings on the platter, but keep them organized by topping. All the marshmallows go together, all the peppermint candies are together and anything else you have to offer.
Step Four:
For the whipped cream, drizzle and wafer sticks, leave in their packaging or put in decorative cups off to the side of the board. If you really want to spice it up, you can even have flavoured whipped cream, or coloured ones.
Step Five:
Enjoy!
Obviously you are not limited to what I suggested above; you can pick entirely what you’d like to include! Other common ingredients are graham crackers, gingerbread, mini oreos or assorted nuts. It’s whatever you think your crew would enjoy and have the most fun with.
One of the biggest bonuses about the hot chocolate charcuterie board doesn’t have to be expensive. You can buy most of your ingredients at your local dollar store. So you really don’t have to break your bank to make it look good. And it provides entertainment for all ages.
Have you tried one yet? Let us know in the comments!
Featured Photo found on Instagram
