The Fourth of July dessert problem: it is hot, the oven is off limits, and everyone is full of grilled things. A chocolate board solves all three.
How do you build a chocolate dessert board? Same logic as a cheese board: vary the textures, cut things small, and put out less than you think you need so the board stays beautiful as it empties. Aim for something snappy, something soft, something salty, and something fruity. Grazing dessert beats plated dessert at a cookout every time.
What goes on the board?
Here is my version, all things that hold up at a summer party. Snappy: a couple of bars broken into rough shards, our Salty-Sweet Pecan Cherry Bar earns its spot because the fleur de sel meringue and dried cherries do the red, white and salty thing naturally. Soft: Fleur de Sel Caramels, set out in their papers. Salty: Toffee Chocolate Macadamias or any of our chocolate covered nuts, the most reached-for item on any board I have ever set out. Fruity: Chocolate Covered Orange Peel, which doubles as the thing people claim they will not like and then finish.
If you would rather skip the curating, our Artisan Chocolate Set is the board in a box: Classic Collection, Fleur de Sel Caramels, Triple Chocolate Almonds and more, already balanced.
What about the heat?
Keep the board indoors or in shade, and put it out after the main meal rather than alongside it. Real chocolate (the kind made with actual cocoa butter) softens around body temperature, which is the price of melting properly in your mouth. Twenty minutes on a 90 degree porch is asking a lot of it.
The finale
End with s'mores. Ours come built: fresh organic graham cracker, a square of our 65% bittersweet, soft vanilla marshmallow. Five minutes under the broiler or a pass with a torch, no campfire required, and the board gets a hot final act just as the fireworks start.
Dessert at a cookout should require no plates and no explanation. A good board does both. Happy Fourth.
Enjoy,
Chuck Siegel
Founder, Charles Chocolates
Chuck Siegel
Founder, Charles Chocolates
Chuck has been making chocolate in San Francisco since 1987. Self-taught, he founded his first chocolate company, Attivo Confections, sold it in 1995, and started Charles Chocolates in 2004 on one uncommon idea: chocolate should be treated like fresh food.
Everything is made in small batches with all-natural ingredients (real cream, real butter, real fruit) and no shortcuts. His work has earned a Good Food Award, Sunset Magazine's Best of the West, and recognition from San Francisco Magazine, and has been covered by KQED and the San Francisco food press.
