Have you ever looked down at a cheese board and wished that it had gummy bears or cupcakes or caramel popcorn or Peeps? Have you thought about brushing all those cheese and crackers and olives aside and recreating a food board that’s filled with cheesecakes or donuts or a bunch of fall harvest goodies like slices of a pumpkin roll and cookies that are arranged to look like a turkey?
If you answered yet to any of those, or you hadn’t thought of it yet but now you’re wanting to answer yes, then Dessert Boards is the book for you. Filled with 50 ideas for creative sweet boards for any occasion, from brunch to movie night, from Easter to Teatime, from birthdays to a fun night of S’Mores.
Author Kellie Hemmerly has put together ideas for food boards for eaters with the ultimate sweet tooth. She starts with several boards to start the day, like the Donut Dessert Board, filled with a selection of donuts, chocolate-covered strawberries, and fresh fruit. Or if you’re looking for something lighter, there’s the Yogurt Parfait Board, where you family or friends could make their own parfait, layering a couple kids of yogurt with nuts, granola, pomegranate seeds, or even mini chocolate chips.
There are boards for holidays, from the New Year’s Eve board with champagne gummy bears and mini cupcakes around a store-bought cake decorated with a clock to the Lucky Leprechaun, which features mint-flavored chocolate sandwich cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, green candies, and gold foil wrapped chocolates. There are boards for the family, like the After-School Sweets Board, with a marshmallow fruit dip, animal crackers, mini muffins, peanuts, and assorted fruit. Or a vacation treat like the Beach Boardwalk Board, which features funnel cakes, salt water taffy, fudge, and caramel corn.
She also includes boards for special occasions like Game Day, featuring a brownie cut and decorated to look like a football, or Awards Night, with mini crème brulees and mini opera cakes. And to make a regular weeknight special or as something to take to a brunch with friends, there are over 15 ideas of Anytime Boards, like the Chocolate and Truffles, Pie Love, Ice Cream Sundae, DIY Pudding Bar, Chocolate Dipping, or Hot Cocoa Boards.
Hemmerly also offers up lots of ideas for what kinds of boards to use, the serving utensils and smaller bowls that fill out the board, and instructions for laying everything out with artfulness and skill. She also includes a bunch of recipes for homemade treats to add to these boards, so you can make and add your own Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies, Crispy Cereal Treats, Pound Cake, Raspberry Jam, Cinnamon-Sugar Tortilla Chips, and Chocolate-Covered Strawberries. A lot of her boards are built with both the handmade treats and store-bought extras, so you can put some personalized baking on your boards but not spend all day in the kitchen.
Dessert Boards is a fun book of sweet snack boards to add style and deliciousness to any celebration, brunch, or family night. There are lots of photos to drool over, so anyone who has trouble picturing how to make the board look really good has assistance. One thing that I didn’t like as much is that many of the boards are repetitive, with the same sweets being used on several boards. But I love the creativity and the energy, and this would make a fantastic holiday gift for that person in your circle or in your family who loves to be the host. This will spark a lot of tasty ideas they can build on.
Egalleys for Dessert Boards were provided by Harvard Common Press (Quarto Group) through Edelweiss, with many thanks.
