Sweet and Spicy Valentine Charcuterie Board

How’s your mood lately? Are you hot and cold? Maybe you’re up and you’re down. Or perhaps you’re feeling sweet, but also a little feisty? I get it. These days I’m a little bit like a Katy Perry song, too. That’s why we whipped up with this sweet and spicy Valentine Charcuterie Board.

It’s the best of both worlds all in one place.

Plus, you can’t go wrong with a meat and cheese board. Ever.

Plus, I’ve got not one, but two recipes for your Valentine Charcuterie Board below. They’re both awesome on their own, but pair them with some meat and cheese, and BAM: it’s a match made in heaven.

Must Haves for a Sweet and Spicy Charcuterie Board

Not sure where to start with making a Valentine Charcuterie Board that’s a little sweet and a little spicy? Start with your favorite sweets.

We grabbed some animal cookies and Oreos, grapes, berries, and pomegranate seeds, candy, chocolate (of course), and the Strawberry Cheesecake Dip featured below.

You can find ways to elevate your favorite treats with a little heat, too.

We made easy heart brownies from a good ol’ box and spiced it up with two tablespoons of red chile powder (I recommend this brand if you need some!). The deep chile flavor, combined with the chocolate is delightful. The brownies aren’t overly spicy; it just adds a nice heat and extra rich flavor.

When it comes to the savory spicy side, head to your local deli and seek out some specialty cheeses. Anything with jalapeño, (black) pepper, and chile will do the trick to adding a kick of heat for your Valentine charcuterie board.

As you’re picking out meats for the arrangement, grab anything that’s peppered or a form of chorizo. Of course, don’t forget to add in some more mild flavors to compliment the spice.

Recipe: Spicy Raspberry Baked Brie

It’s sweet. It’s spicy. And it’s a little bit crunchy. Plus, after it bakes in the oven it’ll be melt-in-your-mouth fantastic.

This Spicy Raspberry Baked Brie is the perfect addition to a sweet and spicy Valentine charcuterie board. It’s also the perfect appetizer for a random Tuesday night.

Spicy Raspberry Baked Brie

adapted from Pampered Chef

It’s sweet. It’s spicy. It’s a little bit crunchy, and after it bakes in the oven it’ll be melt-in-your-mouth fantastic. It’s the perfect addition to a sweet and spicy Valentine charcuterie board.

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Ingredients

  

• ½ cup pecans chopped
• 1 jalapeño pepper stemmed, seeded, and chopped
• ½ cup raspberry preserves
• 1 4-inch round (8 ounces) Brie cheese with rind, room temperature

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 425°F.
• Combine chopped pecans, chopped jalapeño, and raspberry preserves in a small bowl; mix well.
• Slice brie in half horizontally. Place one half of brie, cut side up, onto oven safe dish.
• Spread half of the raspberry mixture evenly over bottom half of brie. Top with the remaining half of the brie, cut side up. Spread remaining raspberry mixture on top.
• Bake around 10 minutes or until brie starts to soften. Remove from oven; serve with toasted baguette slices.

Recipe: Strawberry Cheesecake Dip

This Strawberry Cheesecake Dip is tangy and sweet just like a traditional cheesecake…only better since you can fun dippers to scoop it out.

It’s perfect for a Valentine charcuterie board. And if you have leftovers, it’ll keep for a few days in the fridge—if you can fight temptation to snack on it.

Strawberry Cheesecake Dip

from Pampered Chef

This Strawberry Cheesecake Dip is tangy and sweet just like a traditional cheesecake…only better since you can fun dippers to scoop it out.

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Ingredients

  

• 1 lb strawberries stems removed divided
• ½ Tbs granulated sugar
• 8 ounce low-fat cream cheese softened
• ¾ cup powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup fat free/low-fat Greek yogurt
• Optional: graham crackers, vanilla wafer cookies, pound cake, fruit1

Instructions

 

• Take cream cheese out so it'll soften. (Come back in 30 minutes if you're just taking it out of the fridge now.)
• Dice 4 oz of strawberries; add the sugar; mix, and set aside.
• Add remaining strawberries into a food processor and process until pureed. (Don't clean out food processor bowl.) Transfer puree into a mixing bowl.
• Place cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla into the processor; process until smooth.
• Add cream cheese mixture to the purred strawberries; stir to combine.
• Fold in the yogurt until well combined and no streaks remain.
• Top the dip with the sliced strawberries; serve with graham crackers, vanilla wafer cookies, Oreos or fruit.

Make it Kid Friendly, Too!

What I love about a sweet and spicy Valentine charcuterie board is that it even thought it’s got some heat thrown on it, it can totally be kid friendly, too.

We made some salami “roses,” and on some of them we added spicy chorizo slices, but we left some just “plain” for the kiddos.

And since we couldn’t pass up getting some spicy cheese (one had jalapenos and the other had chili flakes) we had two kinds of spicy cheese, we also had some more mellow cheddar and Babybel.

More Valentine Charcuterie Board Ideas:

If you’re looking for more ideas for a Valentine charcuterie board, check out these ideas from my friends:

• A Sweet and Salty Valentine’s Day Charcuterie Board
• A Valentine Breakfast Board