Fall Charcuterie
Updated: Feb 4, 2020
Charcuterie...charrrr-coooooo-terrr-eeee.. isn't that word so fun to say?! I love that this word has regained popularity and caught on in the last few years! If you haven't heard the term, I'll explain it to you.. just like I had to with my husband. : ) It's basically a schmancy word for a meat and cheese board. Sometimes it is served with fruits and nuts. Here's my definition: An elegant assortment of sweet and savory tastes that is carefully arranged on a rustic cutting board ...that is almost too pretty to eat!
Here's a little preview video of a recent fall charcuterie board and fall party setup I made!
I have often stayed up late with my eyes coveting over photos of these oh-so-elegant charcuterie boards on blogs and Pinterest. We had a fall open house gathering the other night and it was the perfect opportunity to try and make one of these beautiful boards! Listed below are instructions on how I attempted to create my own fall charcuterie!
I went store to store trying to find a large wooden tray to use. I ended up getting a medium size wooden board with black metal handles at the At Home store. I really would love to have a huge tray I found at Pier 1, but for now it's out of my price range. Hobby Lobby has some great boards and trays too!
Here are is the list of food items I picked up at my local grocery store for the board:
- Bag of mixed nuts like cashews, pecans, peanuts & seeds like pumpkin seeds
- Dried apricots
- Veggie chips (wonderful for fall colors since they are reds and oranges)
- Purple and red grapes
- Rye bread
- Crackers
- Pistachios
- Sliced salami
- Sliced cheese
- Romaine lettuce leaves
- Mini pumpkin
1. To begin the charcuterie arrangement I lined the wood tray with the washed and dried romaine lettuce leaves.
2. Next, I placed the pumpkin in the center and added a small white bowl of mixed nuts next to it.
3. Then, I sliced rye bread into fours. (I looked for the rye Pepperidge Farm party bread, but couldn't find it.) I placed two rows of bread diagonally from each other on either side of the board.
4. I added in the small bunches of grapes on either side as well as rows of cheese and crackers.
5. I folded the salami slice, twice, to make it look kind of like a flower. Then, added bunches of it on either side.
6. For the remaining spots, I filled in with with apricots, extra nuts, veggie chips, and pistachios.
I think the fall colors of these snacks look AH-MAZING! What I believe makes a stylish charcuterie, is a variety of edible textures like crunchy, soft, and chewy...and also a mix of bright colors and fun shapes! I think that must be the artist in me...it's almost like creating a work of art!
At the party, I also had some other snacks laid out such as brown sugar bacon-wrapped little smokies, pumpkin fluff dip and raisin bread, peanut brittle, a veggie platter of broccoli and tomatoes, caramel corn, candy corn, pretzel chips, salted caramel mini cupcakes, white chocolate pumpkin cookies, and mini pumpkin pies. The mini pies, cookies, and vanilla cupcakes were store-bought/premade from the grocery store! I think what makes them look pretty is the cake stands they were placed on. I am a cake stand HOARDER! I never pass up a good cake stand and they are so useful to have on hand! I have wood, galvanized metal, glass, and ceramic! Aren't these mini pumpkin pies cute?
Serveware really sets the cohesive theme of the food table! Decorative plates, cake stands, wood trays, and even copper pots can really draw attention to the eye and create a pretty presentation! Isn't it more appealing to look at attractive plates and platters, rather than tinfoil pans or paper plates?
As I said before, these mini vanilla cupcakes were store bought/premade. I bought them at Walmart and they just needed a little dressing up! I topped them with caramel corn, a drizzle of caramel syrup, a sprinkling of salt flakes and voila! ..salted caramel vanilla cupcakes!
I decided to make a few other boards with just cheeses. I LOVE cheese and could have snacked on them all night! I topped one block of cream cheese with fig spread and pecans. I topped another block of cream cheese with a jar of cherry jam and a sprig of rosemary. I also had a few other smoked and savory cheeses... did I mention I love cheese?!
Yummm, doesn't that cheese look dreamy?!!! I also have a fine collection of cutting boards I must say! I received most of them as gifts and I just love serving snacks on them!
Oh, and for drinks I had pumpkin spice coffee and apple cider in a glass dispenser. To dress up the apple cider, I threw in some star anise and floating sliced apples!
For decor, I decided to keep with the colors of the fall charcuterie. I placed some Hobby Lobby fall sprigs in three glass jars on the dining room table. I raised one on a wood cake stand for some height. Mini pumpkins were scattered around as well as some fall candles and mini pinecones. I tried for the first time, to make apple candles! Have you heard of them? All you do is scoop out the top of an apple with a melon baller or spoon and place a little tea light candle in them. They were so easy to make and so pretty on the food table!
So, the charcuterie board was not as daunting a task as I thought it would be... in fact, the next week I made another board for our Fall Handmade Cards Makerie Day party!
Here is a photo of how it turned out:
Have you made a charcuterie board before? Where did you buy your board? What other food items did you include? Let me know in the comments below!
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#makerieday on Instagram... I'd love to see what you create!