Most of Thanksgiving Day is spent cooking. So, when it comes to dessert, you might want something special — but easy. Enter our Cookie Charcuterie Board. It’s made with store-bought cookies, so it’s really simple to make in a few short minutes.
For more ideas of what to make, check out all of our recipes.
Charcuterie is really popular as of a couple years ago, even though most people still have trouble saying that word.
When people think of a traditional charcuterie board, they generally think of savory snacks: meats, cheeses, and nuts. And maybe some fancy jelly to spread.
But. Hear me out. Dessert charcuterie made with all sweet elements on a tray.
Why can’t we just have a spread filled with delicious sweets? Well, now you can with our Cookie Charcuterie Board. I kept calling it a cookie-chuterie when I made it, but whatever you call it, just don’t call it late for dinner. Uh, dessert.
But honestly, a cookie board is such a fun way to serve dessert at a dinner party. Or any holiday dinner where you’re cooking all day and just don’t feel like baking dessert. That’s the best part, by the way. This cookie tray is made from store-bought cookies, which makes this an incredibly easy way to serve dessert in just a few minutes.
Of course, you can do a mix of store-bought and homemade cookies, if you have more time.
This isn’t the only unique sweet charcuterie board we have. For another creative idea to serve this winter, check out our Christmas Donut Hole Tree (aka Donut Croquembouche).
Cookie Charcuterie Board Recipe
Affiliate links are included in this post and Drugstore Divas may make a small commission if you use them.
Cookie Charcuterie Board Ingredients:
How To Make A Cookie Charcuterie Board:
Spoon the chocolate icing into a bowl.
Spoon the cream cheese icing into a separate bowl.
Quick note: You can use different flavors of icing, if you’d rather. Or you could add Nutella or similar sweet dips, if that’s what you happen to have in the pantry.
Quick note: Any icing works for this. If you’re going to use grocery store icing (as you should because it keeps this recipe so incredibly simple), beat it with a hand mixer for a few minutes. It’ll aerate the frosting, making it a lot lighter. It takes more like homemade frosting than store bought this way.
Of course, you could save yourself a few minutes and just spoon the frosting directly from the canister into small bowls. Whatever works for you.
If you’re making these for a specific holiday, you could add a little bit of holiday sprinkles on top of the frosting for a little more pizzaz.
Put those bowls on your serving board.
Open one pack of cookies and start placing them around the bowls of icing.
Keep going with all of the cookies until you’re filled all the empty spaces of the board.
Use your favorite cookies. If you’re making this during the holiday season, pick some seasonal cookies like gingerbread cookies. If you’re making it during the summer, add some graham crackers and have people think of s’mores. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination.
If you’re going to be using a few different cookies, it’s a lot easier for your guests if you group like cookies together. That way they’re not hunting around the board to figure out what’s there and what they want to eat.
Fill a small bowl with mini chocolate chips.
Find a gap in the cookies and place the bowl down there.
Fill another bowl with mini marshmallows.
Find another space in the board and set the bowl down.
Fill a third bowl with colorful sprinkles. If you’re making this for a specific holiday, you can add sprinkle of that holiday’s color. If not, rainbow work.
Put that bowl into another gap on the board.
Of course, you can use whatever small, sweet treats you have at home. Smaller items work better than larger ones because you want everything to be bite sizes. Plus, you can fit more of a small item into tiny bowls than you can with a large item.
Glazed nuts would be great additions to the board, as long as no one has any allergies. If you’re making this for Christmas, add some crushed candy canes in a bowl.
Picking out the fun treats to add to your board is the fun part, so don’t feel stuck with our suggestions. Have fun with it. There’s no wrong way to put this together.
If you’re anticipating that your guests will just dip their cookies into the frosting and toppings, you can set the board out as it is. If you think your guests might use the frosting to make cookie sandwiches, you’ll want to add a small spoon or knife into each of the frostings.
We make this for our family, so I don’t worry too much about people’s fingers grabbing cookies. But ,if you were bringing this to any holiday parties this year, I would suggest adding some mini festive tongs for the guests to use to grab the cookies.
Cookie Charcuterie Board: Frequently Asked Questions
Honestly, whatever type of serving tray is in your closet right now is your best bet. Don’t go out of your way to buy a large wooden board if you’re only making charcuterie on rare, special occasions. It’s not worth the cost. A plain serving tray will hold your cookies just as well as an expensive board will.
Now, of course, if you’re going to make these all the time, go ahead and invest in a nice personalized charcuterie board. I have a wooden cheese board that I use sometimes, if I’m making a smaller dessert spread or this white serving tray (which I use in the summer to hold grilled meats for our barbecues) if I’m making a larger spread.
The rule of thumb that I heard is one cup of goodies per guest. That’s about four cookies per adult. And that seems like a lot because I definitely don’t eat four cookies in one sitting. And most people probably don’t either. But when you’re presented with a variety of cookies and frostings and toppings, well, you just might.
You absolutely can assemble your board ahead of time. That’s a great way to get it out of the way before your dinner party so you can concentrate on the main course.
Make the tray, then cover it completely in plastic wrap. Since these aren’t fresh cookies, they’ll be fine if they’re out at room temperature for a while, but I always prefer to cover mine.
If you saved the cookie bags, just add any extras back into the package and put the pack in a ziptop plastic bag to keep them fresh. If you threw away the packages or if they came in cookie boxes without a resealable seal, just put the cookies in an airtight container.
More Creative Charcuterie Boards:
If you’re looking for another twist on charcuterie, check out our Charcuterie Tree For Christmas. It’s your traditional meats and cheese … but shaped like a Christmas tree.
And if you want one for Thanksgiving, check out our Thanksgiving Turkey Charcuterie Board that’s shaped to look like a turkey.
Cookie Charcuterie Board
Most of Thanksgiving Day is spent cooking. So, when it comes to dessert, you might want something special — but easy. Enter our Cookie Charcuterie Board. It’s made with store-bought cookies, so it’s really simple to make in a few short minutes.
Ingredients
- Chocolate icing
- Cream cheese icing
- 4 packages of cookies
- Mini chocolate chips
- Mini marshmallows
- Sprinkles
Instructions
- Spoon the chocolate icing into a bowl.
- Spoon the cream cheese icing into a separate bowl.
- Put those bowls on your serving board.
- Open one pack of cookies and start placing them around the bowls of icing.
- Keep going with all of the cookies until you’re filled all the empty spaces of the board.
- Fill a small bowl with mini chocolate chips.
- Find a gap in the cookies and place the bowl down there.
- Fill another bowl with mini marshmallows.
- Find another space in the board and set the bowl down.
- Fill a third bowl with colorful sprinkles. If you’re making this for a specific holiday, you can add sprinkle of that holiday’s color. If not, rainbow work.
- Put that bowl into another gap on the board.
Nutrition Information
Yield
24Serving Size
1Amount Per Serving Calories 74Total Fat 4gSaturated Fat 2gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 2gCholesterol 0mgSodium 22mgCarbohydrates 10gFiber 1gSugar 8gProtein 1g
Have you made this Cookie Charcuterie Board yet? Let us know how it went in the comments.