Here’s a crowd pleaser of an idea for Easter dinner: an Easter candy “charcuterie board” (platter) at the end of the meal, instead of petit fours*.

Candies and cookies take the place of the meats on an actual charcuterie board†.

We serve ours at the end of the meal, after dessert, with coffee.

You can either create a platter that’s kid-friendly, or a “gourmet” version for the sophisticated foodie crowd, with artisan Easter candies.

You can substitute Easter cookies instead, or combine cookies and candy.

If you’re creating an elegant board for connoisseurs, head to your favorite chocolatiers and augment with petite cookies like mini macarons.

And you can apply the same principles to a Christmas candy or Valentine candy charcuterie board. It’s an all-celebration concept.

And because it’s arranged in advance, you can hide the board from your guests and bring it out as an after-dinner surprise.

Thanks to the International Charcuterie Association for inspiring this article.
 
 
CREATE YOUR CANDY CHARCUTERIE BOARD
 
 
STEP 1: Select a tray, platter, or cheese board as the base. It doesn’t have to be large; after eating dinner, people’s capacity for candy will be smaller. Trays with a rim are better to contain the candies after people start to dig in.

Provide small paper or plastic cups (muffin/cupcake liners work) and serving spoons for people can help themselves.
 
 
STEP 2: Pick Your Treats

Focus on the color palette (as in the photos) to make your board pop.

Check out candies in Easter colors or pastels, or gold or color-foil-wrapped:

 
Also look for

 
 
*FOOD 101: MIGNARDISES (PETIT-FOURS) & FRIANDISES

These are different types of sweets served at the end of a meal with coffee. Liqueurs can also be served.

Mignardises (min-yar-DEEZ), from the French for “preciousness,” belong to the group of after-dinner cookies called petit-fours (French for “small baked pastries”).

Petit-fours (pronounced petty-foor) are tiny cakes or other tiny baked goods, like mini macaroons and other mini cookies. The words are French for “small ovens” but mean “small baked pastries.”

There are many varieties of petit-four; the most familiar in the U.S. is a one-inch-square layered sponge cake, filled with butter cream and iced in a variety of colored fondants, often with tiny roses or other piped embellishments (photo #6). A truly American addition to a petit-fours plate would be mini cupcakes.

In France, this style is not common; and there are confections that can be included on a petit-fours plate. See Friandises, below. that are not baked at all.

There are two styles of petit-fours: glacée (iced) and sec (dry).

[1] It’s easy to put together an Easter “charcuterie” board, substituting candy for charcuterie (photo © Taste Of Home | TMB Studio).

[2] A mixture of cookies and candy (photo © Lil Luna—here’s how she made it).

[3] Candy grass can hold jelly beans or other candy, then eaten (photo © The Typical Mom.

[4] Gold foil-wrapped mini bunnies add glimmer to the board (photo © Lindt USA).

[5] A mix of candy and cookies, with an army of chicken and bunny Peeps (photo © Galloway Grazes | Instagram).

[6] Easter petit-fours (photo © Mackenzie Ltd.).

[7] Modern mignardises: We have always loved these speckled eggs with candy exteriors and silken ganache insides from artisan chocolatier Fritz Knipschildt | Chocopologie (photo © Williams Sonoma).