Assembling charcuterie boards is our opportunity to get artistic with food! Each holiday gives us an excuse to put together new charcuterie creations. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, we made love boards with items that we had right in our kitchen.
Due to limited space, people don’t want to necessarily purchase themed items that they will only occasionally use, such has heart-shaped ramekins for example. Our charcuterie building hacks will not only save you space, but also money in your wallets!
For these love boards, we used heart-shaped and Valentine’s Day themed cookie cutters in lieu of heart-shaped ramekins that we happened to have in our cabinets. If you don’t have heart-shaped or Valentine’s Day themed cookie cutters, you can easily purchase an entire set for less than $5, which is much more cost effective than purchasing a set of ramekins that might take up a bit too much space for your liking. If you happen to have a heart-shaped plate, place it right on one of the boards and use it as an additional space to arrange on while building the charcuterie.
The cookie cutters are not just used in place of ramekins on the love boards, but also as the cut out for the Brie, which we will get into more detail with further down.
INGREDIENTS
You can create one or two boards, depending on how many people are in your immediate family. Regardless of how many boards you make, there are a few ingredients that are imperative.
- 8 ounces cured meats (variety)
- 8-ounce block cheddar cheese (any variety of flavors)
- 8-ounce block provolone cheese
- 1 (16 ounce) Brie wheel
- 1/2 cup strawberry preserves
- Assorted crackers, cookies and candies of choice
PREPARATION
- Place 3 cookie cutters on your board or boards, depending on the size of the board. Fill 2 of the cookie cutters with cured meats. Fold the slices of cured meats and place them inside the cookie cutters until the cookie cutters are filled.
- Cut the cheddar and provolone cheeses into smaller pieces. Arrange the cheeses on the boards around the cookie cutters.
- Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut through the Brie. This will create a heart-shaped hold in the Brie, leaving a heart-shaped piece of Brie. Place the heart-shaped Brie piece on the board.
- Fill in the heart-shaped hole of the other piece of Brie with strawberry preserves.
- Arrange your choice of crackers, cookies and candies of choice to fill in the spaces on your boards.
