Hot Cocoa Charcuterie Board
 

For the holiday, I have been tasked with doing a Hot Chocolate Charcuterie Board and wanted to ask if anyone here has done one.

I have looked at pinterest and there are a ton of ideas, but I have had my share of pinterest fails, so I am looking for some practical advice on what to include on the board and the best way to go about it.

Do I do an actual board, which seams risky with marshmallows and such, or do I do a tiered tray with some jars to put things in?

What kind of decorations should I include? If I do jars, I could do labels for them, I am sure I could make something or find a cute kit in the store. Any suggestions there?

Weird, I got charged with making the hot chocolate board and a salad. Strangest combination to date. LOL

We have always done jars. Big jars with scoops in them. We do marshmallows, crushed peppermint, m&ms (gag), toffee bits. We also include different Torani flavored syrups and different flavors of coffee creamer. Of course whip cream for the top. We labeled the jars with chalkboard labels, and have a large chalk board with different recipe ideas for people to make. Hope that helps. It is always so fun!

When you said hot cocoa charcuterie I thought that was the weirdest combination of food to have on a tray because us French call Charcuterie the actual cold cuts (salami, dry ham, etc...) or it can also be the store in which you buy all these dry sausages.

But now I get it. They call it a charcuterie board but it's not actually for charcuterie. haha

Besides that I have no advice. Have never done one but I could see being inspired by Pinterest for sure. Good luck!

Lol - I was with Lea thinking you had to mix hot cocoa and meats and cheeses! So you're more doing a hot cocoa bar? I've made several trips to Dollar Tree this week and they are still pretty stocked (at least here) with decor. They also have candy, little bottles of liquid French Vanilla Creamer (my youngest loves this straight as well as in his cocoa), cocoa and flavored syrups if that helps. You can prob get cute containers, too. If you have any place nearby with a bulk food section, we've had good luck finding lucky charms style marshmallows, too.

I thought the same thing!! I also don't have any advice, but what Aly posted sounds really scrumptious and fun!

That sounds like such a fun idea!!!

Thanks for the fabulous ideas, Aly! Never thought about the coffee creamers, but that makes total sense. I love french vanilla in my hot cocoa when I get it at work, so I should have thought of it.

I also love the idea of the chalkboard with recipes, so fun.

How do you do the actual hot cocoa itself? Mix packs, or something else. I have seen people suggesting having a crock pot of chocolate already made up that I am intrigued by.

The area I have to set up in is on the smaller side, so I have settled on doing a tiered tray with jars. The jars will not be huge, but since we are a small family, I am thinking they will be big enough.

I actually did a practice run with a tray that included some cookies for a gathering and it worked, but it wasn't as neat as I would have liked it to be. Things got messy, and by that, I mean they ran together a bit. Jars and spoons should solve that.

I should probably just call it a hot cocoa bar to be less confusing, but it says charcuterie board on interest, so that is what I used. In the end though, it is going to be more of a bar than a board.

I laugh because we have been doing "real" charcuterie boards for holidays and other events forever, but we just call them "meat and cheese" trays. :)

Umm... I am totally doing this on Christmas Eve now, thank you for the idea :wub:

I have never done it, but I know people who swear by just buying chocolate milk, heating it up, and keeping it warm in a crockpot!

A person I follow did one on youtube - :)

https://youtu.be/9bNvRwugosc

I have just a cocoa bar - a tiered tray with three jars on top of crushed peppermint, freeze dried marshmallows, and green/red sprinkles... the bottom is really for show, but there is peppermint sticks (from dollar tree) and cooca packets. It sits next to the coffee maker but our supply is in the drawer of the coffee stand. It has to be my favorite activity I've done this year. :)

We make homemade hot chocolate mix (or rather we mix a bunch of ingredients together, it isn't exactly homemade when you are just mixing containers of ingredients together... LOL) so I'd totally make up a big crock pot full of that. I want to make some chocolate covered spoons for a hot chocolate bar as well.

This is what we did on 2019 and 2020 before COVID.

https://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com..._DALIS-SSD.jpg

I like! :)

At our bonfire and Christmas party for the high school seniors we do a hot cocoa bar. I found a cute sign at Hobby Lobby. We have containers of mini marshmallows, crushed peppermint, chocolate chips, and things like that. Containers are depending on the theme we used. We heat chocolate milk in the microwave and put it in those thermos pumps. Works great! Everyone asks for our hot chocolate recipe :o:o and I have to tell them a gallon of chocolate milk!

I put the whipped cream cans inside little containers that had some ice.

Our Church has been doing one. They use mason jars and include things like- crushed candy canes, mini chocolate chips, crushed oreos, whipped topping, sprinkles etc.

Funny, that was my first thought too! Charcuterie to me is cold cuts and cheese! :D

I bet the girls at my daughter's birthday would love this! (That is, if I can get it approved by the very picky 13-year-old celebrating her birthday, LOL!

Lorie you have to share a picture of what your cocoa bar looked like! :)

I am still struggling with how to do it. I got the three tier tray, but it is wobbly and I am pretty mad about that. I don't want to serve things on something that looks like it is about to fall over and time is running out. :(

Yes that would be unfortunate! I'm sorry you're struggling. Maybe forgo the tray altogether and place things side by side.

I'm not sure when your gathering is happening and I'm probably too late but it made me think of this post: https://www.kevinandamanda.com/hot-c...-cookie-party/. It's a hot chocolate bar and not a charcuterie board but it might give you some ideas!

OMG, the cups on that board, I wouldn't let anyone touch them but me. :p

Hey everyone! So the hot cocoa bar turned out fine, I did it on a single tray with jars, etc. There are photos, but I am not sure where my phone is to upload them. I will look though.

The thing about the hot cocoa bar that was a big disappointment is that my family just didn't respond to it like my sister and I had hoped. Frankly, it didn't get much attention or use. Until we packed it up and took it to the firehouse in my sister's neighborhood where her next door neighbor was on duty. Then it got a lot of attention and appreciation. LOL

I told my family that I think they are a lot of fun, but just not for us. If I do one again in the future it will be for people besides my family. LOL

Well, that stinks that it didn't go over so well after all of your hard work. I know what you mean. My aunt and I made up all of these trays of food for our family on Christmas Eve(veggie, fruit, relish, cheese trays, etc.) and they were barely touched. It's nice to have some leftovers, but I will probably end up throwing most of it away. Kind of makes me wonder why we even bother. I would love to see your pictures, though! That was very kind of you to take it to the firehouse!

My family is weird with new things, too. I'm glad you tried it. It sounds like it was wonderful, and much enjoyed at the firehouse!