Caramel Apple Board | The Speckled Palate

Create a Caramel Apple “Charcuterie” Board for your fall gatherings and customize it to your tastebuds! Use creamy, sweet and salty dulce de leche dip as the centerpiece, then add apple slices and toppings for guests to sprinkle on to their bites before devouring. This dessert board is a fun and delicious activity for both kids and adults.

Caramel Apple Charcuterie Board 

When we lived in Dallas, one of our sweet neighbors invited my family to her home for a playdate and for a special snack.

The snack was homemade dulce de leche (which she’d made on the stovetop), surrounded by different kinds of apple slices and arranged into a beautiful dessert board.

The kids were absolutely obsessed, and I’ll be honest: I was, too.

If you’re reading this, Hannah: thank you for the inspiration. And thank you for introducing me to a delicious treat and a fun fall activity! I’ve taken your idea and run with it here in Austin. 

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Why I love this recipe:

Caramel Apple Boards are the perfect dessert to share during the fall months. Because what’s more in season than caramel apples?

Let me be clear, though: this Caramel Apple Board is a lot easier to create and assemble than homemade caramel apples.

There is no fussing with homemade caramel on the stovetop or dipping whole apples into it when the sauce reaches the perfect temperature. There is also no worrying about your kid losing a tooth because the caramel is too sticky or throwing out a partially-eaten caramel apple because it didn’t get eaten before the apple started to brown.

THIS is fun dessert board that combines crisp apple slices with a quick dulce de leche dip and various toppings. You can customize it to your tastebuds… and to be quite honest, it’s like fall in a bite! Also, it’s a really fun way to serve fruit with a sweet dip and fun toppings.

It goes without saying that dessert “charcuterie” boards (sans the charcuterie) are great for parties and gatherings because they are fun to assemble, eat and share!

Guests are going to fall in love with them because…

• Everyone loves classic caramel apples, and they will love customizing their own bites!
• Caramel apple boards are an easy way to set up a bevy of seasonal toppings for guests to choose from. 
• They work well in both large and small spaces, making them easy to set up in any home. 

More easy desserts to try: Chocolate Dipped Strawberries | Cheesecake Dip | No Bake Avalanche Cookies | Raspberry Yogurt Fruit Dip

What is a caramel apple board? 

A caramel apple “charcuterie” board is a wooden board or tray topped with all the fixings for the perfect bite of a caramel apple. 

You can add anything your heart desires: marshmallows, graham crackers, chopped nuts, chocolate chips and other candies. Most anything you might dip a caramel apple in is welcome here.

Now let me be clear, there’s no actual charcuterie here. You will NOT find meat like salami and prosciutto on a caramel apple board. (But if you’d like to have that on hand, too, don’t miss this tutorial for the perfect holiday cheese board and make that separately for guests to graze upon.)

This party idea gets the name “charcuterie board” because it’s like the grab-and-go nature of meat and cheese boards. 

Another great thing about caramel apple boards is that they’re easily transported. You can put it on a low table (like a coffee table) for the very little ones to get in on the decorating fun, then move it back up to the countertop for everyone else. Just keep your eyes on pets if you’ve got this on a low table because you don’t want to share these treats with your furry friends.

What you need to make this recipe:

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Here’s what you’ll need to make this fun treat:

• A batch of Salted Dulce de Leche Dip — or your favorite store-bought caramel apple dip
• Apples — use your favorite apples! I used a combination of Pink Lady apples, Granny Smith apples and honeycrisp apples for this particular board. You can squeeze a little bit of lemon juice to the apple slices to prevent them from browning as they sit.
• Graham crackers — the classic crackers are what I used here, but I know this board would also be delicious with the cinnamon-sugar ones
• Dulce de leche or caramel sauce — for extra dippage! This gives a little different flavor than the creamy dulce de leche dip, which calls for Greek yogurt and has some serious tanginess to it.
• Pecan pieces — or another nut of your choosing!
• Mini marshmallows — you can get the plain white kind OR the colored kind. 
• Chocolate chips — mini chocolate chips are particularly lovely since we’re decorating apple slices (instead of whole apples) 
• Candies — I chose mini chocolate candies to use here, like Mini M&M’s. Reese’s Pieces also added peanut butter flavors to the board, which I think pair nicely with caramel.

You can make this into anything you want! My ingredients above are merely suggestions, so pick and choose what you think would work best.

Favorite caramel apple toppings and additions

You can have so much fun with caramel apple toppings. My ideas above are what I always use for my board, photographed here, but the ideas are limitless. 

Here are some more ideas of sweet treats to serve alongside them: 

• Other chocolate chips and chip-shaped desserts, like butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips or even cinnamon chips
• Fresh fruit, like slices of pears, strawberries, raspberries, etc.
• Extra dipping sauces, like caramel sauce, butterscotch sauce or hot fudge sauce
• Mini stroopwafels — stroopwafels are wafer sandwich cookies with a caramel filling. They would be delicious dipped into the caramel dip. 
• Spreads like peanut butter, Nutella or cookie butter are great for dipping apples into, so long as you don’t mind that they are not caramel.
• Sprinkles are always fun for kids. Chocolate jimmies and hundreds-and-thousands in festive colors are both great ideas.  
• Candy, especially the chocolate variety, is wonderful. Use your favorite!

You could even add some Chocolate Dipped Strawberries or Chocolate Dipped Pretzels to the board.

How to set up a Caramel Apple Board

Setting up your own Caramel Apple Dessert Board is easy. 

Get out a big board, platter or tray. You can even use two if needed to keep items separate (e.g. if allergies are a concern). 

Figure out what the biggest items are for the platter, and set those down first. 

For me, the biggest item was the dulce de leche dip, which I had in a small casserole dish. That was placed in the center of the board first.

From there, I surrounded it with bowls of candies, chopped nuts and additional dulce de leche.

I then arranged the graham crackers, as well as the marshmallows and apple slices.

If you want to arrange graham crackers in a row like I did with here, put that down next, then dump the smaller items — marshmallows — in between the bigger ones. 

When the party begins, let your guests dip apples and other ingredients into the dessert dip or dulce de leche and then decorate with their favorite toppings.

How to store leftovers:

If you wind up with leftovers, no sweat. You can enjoy them again later! 

Store the dulce de leche dip in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. You can also store the apple slices in a separate container in the fridge, though they will brown the longer they sit.

Store the remaining items (the candies, nuts, graham crackers and marshmallows) in separate ziptop bags or small containers at room temperature. 

Erin’s Easy Entertaining Tips

I can see this Caramel Apple Board being a massive hit at any fall gathering, be it an at-home tailgate party, a Halloween party (or a pumpkin carving party!), a harvest party or anything in between.

This is also makes an incredible afternoon snack if you don’t mind something super sweet, so there’s not a bad time for it. You could easily assemble the toppings in a small muffin tin and let your kids or guests dip to their hearts content.

If I were serving this at my next fall party, here is what I would do:

• Double the dip. If you’re hosting a bevy of folks, you might want more of the dessert dip so you don’t run out.
• Ask guests to bring their favorite topping to the party. Build the board as guests arrive. This can help keep costs down, too. 

Frequently Asked Questions

More caramel apple board ideas:

• Make sure to provide a variety of delicious toppings, especially some interesting and creative ingredients, to get guests excited about making their caramel apple bites. 
• You can serve a caramel apple board any time! They are especially great for seasonal parties and kid-centric fall gatherings, but you can serve it year-round, so long as you have people around who love these flavors together.

More board ideas:

Here’s how you make this one…