Red, White and Blue Charcuterie Board

It's fun to serve red, white and blue themed food for the 4th of July but I'm not a fan of using food color just for the sake of making things look patriotic. Fortunately, it's easy enough to do naturally with a bounty of summer fruit.

Charcuterie boards are my favorite way to serve a variety of snack tid-bits to guests and I can vary them by season. And what's better on a hot summer Independence Day celebration that plenty of ripe fruit? Choosing the reds was easy with all the ripe strawberries, grapes and watermelon available now. Sweet blueberries always go quickly when I serve them because it's so easy to pop them in your mouth. I keep extra in the fridge to refill the board.

You can serve some deli meats if you like but I kept it to cheese, crackers and nuts for the non-fruit options. A sweet fruit dip is super easy to make with just some Greek yogurt, mascarpone cheese and a bit of sugar. And I used my favorite shortbread recipe to form the star shaped cookies. This dough doesn't spread in the oven so it's perfect for cookie cutter shapes. The cookies themselves are not overly sweet so there's room to add a dab of frosting and patriotic sprinkles if you like. Enjoy!

Yield: 8 Servings

Author: Anita Schecter

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Red, White and Blue Charcuterie Board

Prep time: 30 MCook time: 15 MTotal time: 45 M

Patriotic themed charcuterie board with red, white and blue fruit and star shaped cookies.

Ingredients:

For the Dip:

• 1 Cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1/2 Cup Mascarpone cheese
• 1/4 Cup powdered sugar
• Pinch of salt

For the Cookies:

• 1 1/2 Sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 Cup granulated sugar
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 1 3/4 Cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 Teaspoon salt
• White frosting (optional)
• Sprinkles (optional)

For the Board:

• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Watermelon
• Red seedless grapes
• Bananas
• White cheddar cheese, cubed
• Crackers
• Cashews or other nuts

Instructions:

1. To make the dip, whisk together the Greek yogurt, mascarpone cheese, powdered sugar and salt until smooth.
2. To make the cookies, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla using a hand or stand mixer. Stir in the salt and flour until thoroughly combined. Place the dough into a plastic bag, form it into a disk and let it rest for half an hour. It will be crumbly but if it feels too soft, refrigerate it for a few minutes.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
4. On a well floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/4" thickness and use a star shaped cutter (mine is about 2 1/2") to cut out cookies. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 minutes. The cookies will not brown or spread much and they will firm up as they cool.
5. Once cooled, frost with white icing, if using, and sprinkle with red, white and blue sugar or sprinkles. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.
6. Assemble the board in color groupings of red, white and blue and intersperse the cookies among the fruit for a patriotic look.

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