Fun Halloween Charcuterie Board

Food items used to make our halloween snack board

• grapes
• blackberries
• blueberries
• Cheez-Its
• spicy ranch oyster crackers
• hard salami
• Monterey Jack cheese
• cheddar cheese
• Babybel mini soft cheese
• mixed nuts
• Whoppers
• Junior Mints
• Milk Duds
• Hershey’s Nuggets
• Brach’s Mellowcreme Pumpkins (next to the board, not actually on it)

How to make

1. You will need something to use as a large serving tray. It doesn’t have to be a wooden board or platter. Use what you have; a large baking sheet, round, rectangular, or square “board” are all a great option. If your platter isn’t round just start by putting the skull in the middle and filling the empty spots with more items. 
2. Wash and dry fruits and cube cheeses. You can also buy cheese that is already cubed. It’s a lot more expensive but great if you are short on time. 
3. For the eyes, cut little divots into two Babybel rounds so the blueberries will sit down in them and cut a wedge out of one for the nose cavity. Start to make the face of the skull by placing eyes and nose. Add 4 or 5 blackberries to make the teeth. 
4. Make the the outline of the skull shape using light colored cheese. 
5. Fill in the remaining part of the skull with oyster crackers. 
6. Next place the salami slices around the top of your board. Then add the grapes. Fill in empty spaces with the remaining ingredients. 
7. Place small tongs or long wooden picks around the board for guests to serve themselves with. 

Special Note – meats and cheeses should only sit out at room temperature for a maximum of 2 hours. After that bacteria can start to grow and the food may become unsafe to eat. It should also not be put back into the refrigerator after 2 hours. 

Tips

• My pizza pan was pretty large (16″ across) and we were only able to fit a small amount of each item on it. We put more of each item in small bowls around the board in the hopes that early guests would eat out of the bowls and then (hopefully) the board would still be in tact when the late arrivals show up. You have those guests too, right?!
• Swap these items out with your favorite variety of meats, hard and soft cheeses, crackers and candies. We tried to stay with a Halloween color scheme by using green, orange and purple. Also, we wanted the shape of the skull to be made out of white foods. 
• Since we are empty nesters (most of the time) we sold all of our Halloween decorations at a yard sale and don’t have any. Some fun ideas for decorations you could use are:
  • mini pumpkins, plastic spiders, mini plastic skulls, a skeleton hand, or creepy eyes. 
• You can make your board all savory, or all sweet based on personal preferences.
  • Sweet ideas to make the skull are mini marshmallows, white chocolate chips, or white fudge covered pretzels. You could use mini powdered donuts or white chocolate Reese’s peanut butter cups for the eyes. Or for contrast you could use chocolate candies for the eyes, nose and teeth. 

Make these fun snacks too!

Witch Finger Breadsticks

Mini Salami Cheeseballs

Rolo Stuffed Ritz