Southern Spoonful: All Aboard for Happy Holidays!

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The story below is from our November/December 2021 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you! 

Take the stress out of holiday hosting and feel a little fancy with these easy themed charcuterie boards.

Relaxed and holidays are words that are rarely used in the same sentence. Company’s coming and you have to be ready to feed them breakfast, lunch and dinner. Make holiday cooking and entertaining just a little easier by getting on board with holiday boards! The components of each of these holiday boards can be made the day ahead and the boards can be easily assembled right before service. Then make a lovely French Vanilla Dream Cake and some yummy hot honey bourbon balls to have ready in the refrigerator for a sweet dessert surprise.

It’s especially nice to celebrate supporting local during the holidays. After all of your holiday cooking and baking, enjoy a Merry Cherry Cocktail, made with local Storied Goods Orange Cherry Sugar Cubes. You deserve a holiday treat!

Granola Brunch Board

This board is actually made out of granola! Make the board a day ahead and you’ll have brunch ready for guests to enjoy at their leisure. (See main image for reference.)

Yield: 6 servings

  • 1 package Crystal Spring Grocery granola
  • ½ cup creamy peanut butter
  • ¼ cup honey
  • Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, banana slices and pineapple chunks
  • Fruit-flavored yogurt

Place a sheet of aluminum foil in a loaf pan to line the pan. Place granola in a mixing bowl. In a separate bowl mix together the peanut butter and honey. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the granola and stir to combine. Put the granola mixture in the loaf pan and press down to evenly distribute the granola in the pan. Cover pan with plastic wrap and place in freezer. Freeze for two hours or overnight.

Turn granola “board” out of pan onto a wooden cutting board or directly onto a clean non-scratch countertop. (If granola board has been in the freezer overnight, allow board to sit at room temperature for one-half hour.) Place blueberries, raspberries, blackberries and banana slices on top of the granola board. Place pineapple chunks next to the granola board. Place small bowls of fruit-flavored yogurt around the board.

Guests can cut pieces of the granola and spoon fruit right from the granola board and top it with their favorite flavor of yogurt. Serve with a large spoon.

Pickled Deviled Egg Board

Pickled eggs require that the eggs “marinate” in pickled beet juice overnight.

Your guests can top these tickled pink deviled eggs with as many toppings as they can fit on top of their egg.

Yield: 16 deviled eggs

Pickled Deviled Eggs:

  • 8 large eggs
  • Juice from 16 oz. jar pickled beets (reserve the beets for another use or finely chopped to serve with deviled eggs)
  • 2 1/2 tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 tbsp sweet pickle relish
  • 1 tbsp grainy mustard
  • ½ tsp Clark and Hopkins Chesapeake Bay Artisan Pepper Sauce
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • Fresh parsley sprigs for garnish

Hard boil eggs. Peel eggs. Pour pickled beet juice into a bowl that is large enough to hold the eggs. Place peeled eggs in pickled beet juice. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator overnight. Turn eggs once or twice while they are marinating in the beet juice.

Cut a tiny piece off the ends of eggs, then cut the eggs in half horizontally so the egg half will sit up straight on the board. Remove yolks from eggs and place in a small bowl. Mash yolks with a fork. Add mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, mustard, pepper sauce, salt and pepper to yolks and stir to combine all ingredients. Fill hollows in eggs with yolk filling. Place a parsley sprig on top of each egg half. Cover and refrigerate until ready for service.

Pickled Egg Board:

Place pickled deviled eggs on one side of a large wooden cutting board. On the other side of the board line up small bowls of toppings – whatever your heart desires –  crisp crumbled bacon, bits of smoked salmon, chopped fresh dill, finely chopped Black Forest Ham,  finely chopped jalapeño peppers, chopped anchovies, capers, finely chopped red onion, thinly sliced green onion, hot pepper sauce and finely chopped pickled beets.

Homemade Ricotta Ginger Honey Board

Homemade ricotta is a special holiday treat that is surprisingly easy to make.

Homemade Ricotta:

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 4 cups whole milk
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice

Line a strainer with two layers of cheesecloth and place in a large bowl or saucepan allowing cheesecloth to drape over sides of bowl.

In a saucepan, combine heavy cream, milk and salt. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer until mixture reaches 195 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the pan from the heat and drizzle with lemon juice. Stir in lemon juice. Curds will immediately begin to form. Continue stirring and add a little more lemon juice if curds do not form quickly enough.

Pour the cheese curds and liquid into the cheesecloth lined strainer. Allow the liquid to drain through the cheesecloth into the bowl for 30 minutes. After the cheese curds have drained, pick up the cheese curds in the cheesecloth, twist the top of the cheesecloth and give the cheese curds wrapped in cheesecloth a gentle squeeze to remove most of the liquid.  Drop the curds from the cheesecloth into a bowl. Cover bowl and place in refrigerator until ready for service.

To assemble board:

  • Ricotta cheese
  • Ginger Thin Cookies (Anna’s brand are perfect for this board)
  • AR’s Southern Honey (wildflower and hot honey)
  • Toasted sliced almonds and toasted walnuts
  • Dried Apricots and dates
  • Fresh mint sprigs for garnish

Put ricotta in a serving dish and place on a wooden cutting board. Put honey in small bowls and place next to ricotta bowl. Surround bowls with ginger thin cookies, dried apricots and dates. Sprinkle almonds and walnuts over the board. Place small spoons with ricotta and honey for serving. Garnish with fresh mint sprigs.

French Vanilla Dream Cake

Yield: 2 9-inch layers or 3 6-inch layers

  • 15.25 oz. Betty Crocker French
  • Vanilla Cake Mix
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup toasted coconut (spread coconut on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, approximately 8 minutes,  stirring every 2 minutes during toasting until most of coconut is lightly browned)
  • ½ cup finely chopped pecans
  • 2  14 oz. cans of Duncan Hines whipped cream cheese frosting
  • Garnish: Clementine segments dipped in fine sugar and frozen
  • Fresh mint sprigs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Coat bottoms of 2 9-inch round cake pans (or 3 6-inch round cake pans). Dust with flour. Set aside.

Prepare cake mix with water, vegetable oil and eggs by following package directions. Add 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. Pour batter evenly into the prepared cake pans. Bake for 25–30  minutes (20-22 minutes for 6-inch cake layers) or until a knife inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Remove cake from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.  Loosen cake layers from the sides of pan using a narrow metal spatula or table knife. Invert cake layers onto wire racks and shake pans gently to remove cake layers.

Place one cake layer on a plate and spread with cream cheese frosting. Sprinkle frosting with some of the toasted coconut and pecans. Top with second cake layer. Spread second layer with cream cheese frosting. Sprinkle frosting with toasted coconut and pecans (saving some for top and sides of cake). If making a 6-inch cake, top with remaining cake layer. Spread remaining cream cheese frosting on top and sides of cake. Sprinkle top and sides with remaining toasted coconut and sprinkle pecans on top of cake.

Garnish:  Place clementine segments on a plate. Sprinkle with sugar on both sides of segments. Cover and place in freezer for one hour. Arrange 3 clementine segments and a sprig of fresh mint on top center of cake. Place clementine segments and sprigs of mint on the plate next to cake.

Hot Honey Bourbon Balls

Yield: 48

  • 1 ½ cups finely crushed vanilla wafers
  • 1 cup finely chopped pecans
  • 2 ½ cups powdered sugar, divided, sifted
  • 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 5 tbsp bourbon + 4 tbsp bourbon
  • 2 tbsp AR’s Southern Hot Honey

To crush vanilla wafers: Place vanilla wafers in a plastic bag. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible before sealing. Roll a rolling pin over the bag to crush the wafers.

Place finely crushed vanilla wafers, pecans, 1½ cups powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl. Stir until thoroughly combined.

In a separate bowl, combine 5 tablespoons bourbon and hot honey (tip: to prevent honey from sticking to the tablespoon, spray the tablespoon lightly with vegetable oil before measuring the honey). Stir the bourbon mixture into the vanilla wafer mixture until thoroughly combined. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 2 hours.

Remove mixture from the refrigerator and stir in 4 tablespoons bourbon.

Sift remaining powdered sugar onto a large plate. Using your clean hands, shape chilled vanilla wafer mixture into 1” balls and roll in powdered sugar.

Store bourbon balls in refrigerator in tightly covered container. Bourbon balls can be kept refrigerated for one or two days. Roll in powdered sugar just before serving.

Merry Cherry Cocktail

Makes 1 cocktail

  • 1 Storied Goods Orange-Cherry sugar cube
  • 1 tbsp cherry preserves
  • 1 oz. cherry vodka
  • 1 oz. elderflower liqueur
  • ¼ oz. fresh lemon juice
  • 3 oz. chilled Prosecco
  • Maraschino cherry with stem and sprig of mint for garnish

Place sugar cube and cherry preserves in a small cocktail shaker. Muddle. Add cherry vodka and continue to muddle until sugar cube dissolves in vodka. Add elderflower liqueur and lemon juice. Fill shaker with ice. Cover and shake vigorously. Strain into champagne flute. Top with chilled prosecco and garnish with maraschino cherry and sprig of mint.

*AR’s Southern Hot Honey is available at Big Lick Gifts, Valley View Mall and Food Lion.

*Storied Goods sugar cubes are sold at Crystal Spring Grocery.

*Clark and Hopkins Chesapeake Bay Artisan Pepper Sauce can be purchased at Wine Gourmet or online.

The story above is from our November/December 2021. For more stories, subscribe today or view our FREE digital edition. Thank you for supporting local journalism!