How To Make A Caramel Apple Charcuterie Board
Creating a Caramel Apple Charcuterie Board is the perfect way to let your guests customize their own sweet treats. With a variety of apples, a caramel sauce or dip along with any number of toppings, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
In This Article
Nutritional Benefits
A caramel apple board can provide plenty of nourishment depending on the ingredients chosen. Using your favorite apples, a homemade caramel sauce, some dark chocolate, and nuts can enrich your platter with plenty of vitamins and minerals.
The apples alone contain a good amount of fibre, magnesium, potassium, calcium and vitamins C, E and B6. Additionally, they contain smaller amounts of vitamin A, along with iron, zinc and manganese (1). A wonderful combination for digestive and immune support (2, 3, 4). And that’s just the apples! Remember too, that vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin. As such, having good fats on the board in nuts or nut butter means it’s better utilised by the body (5).
That said, there is nothing wrong with making a dessert board that is more of a treat either. Tossing on a few mini marshmallows, sprinkles, a mix of cookies and crackers is all fine. Simply ensure less of those are added than the more nourishing ingredients.
Ingredients – What You’ll Need To Make This Recipe
Charcuterie is a French term traditionally used to describe cured meats displayed on charcuterie boards. However, the concept has evolved over time to include a wider range of foods, with dessert boards being a more modern interpretation. Certainly, outside of France, I’m not sure our French friends will agree with this just yet, but they’re a great party food.
Suggested Toppings For Your Board
- Caramel sauce or caramel dip – Any you like is fine, but this nourishing homemade Date Caramel Sauce is extra delicious.
- Other dipping sauces – add a variety of other sweet dips to the board to make it interesting. This can be as simple as a melted chocolate, peanut butter, almond butter, or any other nut butter you prefer.
- Various types of apples – honeycrisp apples, granny smith apples, red apples – any type of apple you like. Grab at least 3-4 varieties in various shades of yellow, green and red. This allows for colorful apple slices to be seen all around the board.
- Any other fresh or dried fruit – Dried apricots, fresh dates and berries, depending on the season, all make great additions.
- Cookies and crackers – any you prefer but a mix of sweet and savoury works well. Go for nourishing varieties where possible like these 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies.
- Granola – to add a little crunch to the toppings.
- Salty snacks – some lightly salted nuts are great, or pretzel rods would also work. Crush a few up for dipping and leave others whole. These balance the sweetness of the caramel dip, so the board is not too sickly sweet.
Add any other favorite toppings you’d like that are not listed here. Just remember to use a mix of colors, tastes and textures for visual appeal. This keeps your dessert charcuterie boards fun and festive.
How To Make A Caramel Apple Board
This caramel apple charcuterie board is a great dessert for autumn/fall parties but can be customised to suit an event at any time of the year. They’re a fun way to serve dessert with a Halloween or Christmas theme too. This is also a fantastic way to enjoy the flavor of classic caramel apples without becoming a sticky mess!
The top thing to keep in mind as you pull this board together is to constantly mix colours, textures and flavours as you work your way around. This will keep it interesting to look at and makes it easy for your guests to create their perfect little caramel apple bite every time they dig in.
- Choose a board based on the size of your gathering and the amount of ingredients you intend to serve. A small board for 2-3, medium for 3-6, large for 6-8, or an extra-large board for 8+ people.
- Arrange the base by placing any bowls you’ll be using. One for the caramel sauce/dip then other toppings that are best in a bowl. Granola and crushed nuts or sprinkles if using are good examples.
- Next start to add a few colorful apple slices near the bowls, but ensure they’re spread along the length of the board.
- Scatter around any other fruit you’re using, as well as whole nuts, chocolate and cookies or crackers.
- Finish by adding a few small seasonal decorations to the board before moving it to the table for serving.
Drizzle the apple slices with a little bit of lemon juice or rinse them under cold water once they’re cut. This will stop them browning too quickly. They should be one of the last ingredients you prepare before starting to build the board.
Substitutions And Variations
Cheeses are a great addition if you want something more to balance all the sweetness. They’re also good for guests who don’t love super sweet desserts. Try soft cheese like goat cheese, ricotta or cream cheese, as these will match the ingredients already on the board if someone does want to combine them.
In addition to or instead of the chocolate sauce (if using) try chunks of your favorite chocolate. Dark or milk chocolate chips work well too.
Making dipping easier by adding toppings like chopped nuts, granola, crushed cookies etc. to a muffin tin. Serve this beside the rest of the board along with a glass full of wooden skewers. Guests can take an apple slice, put it on a skewer, dip into the caramel then into the various toppings.
Tips For Success With This Recipe
Choose a variety of ingredients and seasonal decorations to create a beautiful and interesting board.
Consider the ingredients that will be on the board and prepare anything you can ahead of time. Making the caramel sauce or getting toppings into bowls etc. is a good start.
Presentation matters so arranging the ingredients in a visually appealing way will make the board more inviting.
Storing/Make Ahead
This board is best when made just before serving so the apples don’t oxidise and brown. The caramel dip is the one element that could be made the day before in need.
Things like leftover caramel can be stored in tupperware containers or any other airtight containers in the fridge. Nuts, nut butter, and chocolate can also be rescued for another recipe. Any leftover apple can go straight to the compost bin and contribute to healthy soil for the garden.
FAQ
Toppings that will complement the colour, texture and taste of apples are the best choice. Things like caramel dip, chopped nuts, granola and coconut are great options. Others such as cookies, crackers, dried fruit and dark chocolate make nourishing additions too.
Whether serving this as a board or small caramel apple bar – the biggest risk to presentation is browning apples. Avoid this by drizzling lemon juice over the sliced apples or rinsing them thoroughly under cold water.
More Dessert Recipe
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How To Make A Caramel Apple Charcuterie Board
Equipment
- 1 Large Serving Board
Ingredients
- 1 cup caramel sauce or dip
- ½ cup almond butter
- 6 apples (a mix of several varieties, sliced)
- 1 lemon (juiced)
- ½ cup hazelnuts (or nuts of choice)
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup granola
- ½ sleeve plain cookies (any you like)
- ½ sleeve plain crackers (any you like)
- 1 punnet blackberries
- 1 cup dried fruit (apricots and dates or any you like)
Instructions
- Choose a board based on the size of your gathering and the amount of ingredients you intend to serve. A small board for 2-3, medium for 3-6, large for 6-8, or an extra-large board for 8+ people.
- Cut apples in half, cut out the cores then slice each half into 6 slices. Add these all to a large bowl and drizzle with plenty of lemon juice. Toss to make sure they're well coated.
- Chop half the nuts then place these in small bowls. Add the nut butter or chocolate sauce (if using) to other bowls.
- Arrange the base of the board by first placing all the bowls. One for the caramel sauce/dip and others for the nut butter, chopped nuts, and granola.
- Next start to add a few colorful apple slices near the bowls, but ensure they’re spread out along the length of the board too.
- Scatter around any other fresh or dried fruit you’re using, as well as whole nuts, chocolate and cookies or crackers.
- Finish by filling in any gaps you can see then adding a few small seasonal decorations to the board before moving it to the table for serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Gabby Campbell
Gabby is a degree qualified Naturopath/Nutritionist (BHSc Nat) with a love of all whole foods. She started her Naturopathic career in clinical practice before making the move to recipe development and online education – a result of wanting to combat the misinformation that abounds on the internet about food and health. Whole Natural Kitchen aims to transform the way you think about healthy eating by helping you embrace an abundance of nutritious foods while leaving the health fads behind. MORE ABOUT GABBY