Fall Charcuterie Board for Two

October is in full swing and I have to say, fall has always been my favorite season. The weather, the colors, the holidays and fall foods! Hello… pumpkin! Now, fast forward to me going down the Pintrest rabbit hole for all things fall…and stumbling across a ton of fall charcuterie boards. They not only looked delicious, they were so beautiful! But all of the boards I was seeing were huge spreads with probably pounds of meats, cheeses, nuts, etc. And since we are still trying to stay home and social distance as much as possible, I thought I would simplify what I was seeing and make it suitable for a group of two… well technically three with the little one!

So let’s get to what you need to create your own two-person charcuterie board!

Cheese

We did 4 different varieties – Two that were soft and more “spreadable” and two other types that we would cut up. Most of the fall boards that I saw included brie. And while brie looks really pretty on the board, taste-wise I am not a fan. So I switched out the brie for a seasonal option from Trader Joe’s (where I did all the shopping for this).

We used:

• Soft: Chimay Autumn Cheese (seasonal cheese sold exclusively at TJs) – cut a large slice
• Soft: Cranberry Chevri Goat Cheese Log – cut a section of the log 
• Hard: TJs Cheddar and Gruyere melange cheese – cut into squares
• Hard: Toscano Cheese with Black Pepper – cut into thin slices

To start laying out your board, you will want to place the cheese on first and evenly spread it across the board.

Crackers

The next thing I did was lay out the crackers. I found this to be the easiest thing to lay out next because I wanted to make sure there was ample room for them! I’m the type of person that wants some cracker with just about every bite. 

We used:

• Multigrain Pita Bite Crackers
• TJs Cracker Assortment

I obviously kept the cracker boxes close by for refills!

Meats

Keeping in mind that this plate is for only 2 people, we didn’t go crazy on the meats, or add too much. Especially because we used a good amount of cheese. When you buy these types of meats, the slices typically come laying flat on top of each other so I separated and folded them individually so they would be easy to grab.

We used:

• A TJs variety pack of three which included Calabrese Salame, Prosciutto, and Capocollo. Bam! That was easy. All tasted really good – by the way!

Extras

This I feel, is the really fun part. The possibilities are endless! We went with some classics, like grapes and candied walnuts. To make the charcuterie board feel more “fall” we used figs, dried apricots, and pear. You could also add a dip, like honey. Or even some sweets, like chocolate covered pretzels or nuts. Everything can be customized to your taste, and that is the beauty of it. As we were eating this one, we were already discussing what we would switch up on the next one to add a different flavor or feel.

What we used here:

• Seedless Grapes
• Candied Walnuts
• Anjou Pear
• Dried Apricots
• Dried Black Mission Figs

For Baby

Now that Emma is almost one and a half, she basically eats what we eat at mealtime. While some of the stuff on our board was not toddler friendly (meats, dried apricots, walnuts, etc) she was able to enjoy parts of it (the harder cheeses, crackers, grapes, and pear). We supplemented with a few of her staples – avocado for example- and she was a happy camper.

I think these boards are great for when you want to switch it up a bit at lunch or dinner, or even as a snack for a family movie night. They are actually quite filling and are super delicious!

I’d love to hear your thoughts! What is a must-have on your charcuterie board?

Until next time,

Jannette