A review: Beautiful Boards: 50 Amazing Snack Boards for Any Occasion by Maegan Brown

I’m not sure how many cookbook reviews I will do this year, but I read a new one before the holidays and wanted to share.

Even though the “put it on a board” fad may be waning and you can get all the inspiration you need from Instagram, I still love a good hard-backed book with pictures and options to compare. Beautiful Boards was published in 2019.

About the book:

Make mealtimes, special occasions, and holidays extra memorable with these 50 delicious, inspiring, family-friendly, and easy-to-recreate snack boards.

Visually exciting and deliciously enticing, these snack boards by Maegan Brown (aka The BakerMama) move beyond (and include) classic cheese and charcuterie and are comprised of easy-to-find fresh and prepared foods, arranged in beautiful, artful, and whimsical ways (think sliced tomatoes and mozzarella arranged into a caprese candy cane for celebrating the holidays and a fruit-and-veggie rainbow with cracker clouds to brighten any day).

The variety of foods on each board will delight everyone, and the stunning presentation will encourage kids to try foods they might normally refuse. Plus, you can make the boards ahead of time, so you can actually sit down and spend time with your loved ones. In this book, you will find boards for anytime family meals and snacks, seasons and holidays, breakfast and brunch, dessert and entertaining and special occasions.

Along with The BakerMama’s tips to get you into the board mindset, every board is accompanied by a gorgeous, large photo and step-by-step instructions to make each one easy to recreate. Beautiful Boards is an entertaining game changer that will have you spending less time in the kitchen and more time having fun.

What I thought:

While the opening of Beautiful Boards was nothing remarkable (boards are cool, boards help kids explore options, boards are communal), it was the creativity and photos that kept me exploring the book.

They typical measurements are repeated here: 1 oz. of cheese per offering per person if it’s an appetizer, 1 1/2 oz. if it’s a meal board; 2-3 oz. of meat per person for an app, 3-5 oz. for a meal. Brown covers the textures and combos that make a great charcuterie and cheese board. Really nothing new if you’ve been around for the last ten years.

I did like how she listed everything one would need to get started (besides the board): medium serving bowls, small ramekins, mini bowls, small jars, knives of different varieties, spreaders, small spoons, honey dipper, toothpicks, etc. These things could all be gathered up with a nice large board for a fantastic gift. (In fact, I’m listing the things at the end of the post so I can have a record).

Brown does include “recipes” for vegan boards and gluten free boards. This book is not all about the charcuterie and cheese so there’s options for a lot of fruit and veggie boards.

Like a lot of people, I think about boards during the holidays (meaning November through January), but Brown explores other holidays like St. Paddy’s Day with a Rainbow Board (43) with colorful fresh fruits and veggies arranged in a rainbow with gold-wrapped Rolo candies as the pot o’ gold. Her Springtime Board (69) builds flowers with orange slices, strawberry slices and baby carrots around bowls of ranch dressing, spreadable herb cheese, and vanilla yogurt. The Summer Fun Board (71) is probably the most inventive. It’s laden with fruit but I LOVED the Teddy Grahams in Life Saver candies floating down a blueberry river surrounded by shark gummies. How cute is that? I will mimic her Fall Feast Board (73) with it’s pumpkin shaped cheese ball using a green pepper stem and Cutie oranges peeled as mini-pumpkins.

There are a lot of offerings for dessert boards. (In fact, there may be more sweet boards than savory ones. The Birthday Board (47) is full of homemade pink candy-dipped pretzels, vanilla-candy dipped donut holes, dipped strawberries, sandwich cookies, tiny cupcakes, caramel popcorn, small rice Krispie treats with a small birthday cake in the center. The Unicorn Board (49) would be perfect for a kid’s party. It includes instructions for building the unicorn (white frosting spread on a small plate with a piped-icing face, a sugar ice cream corn for the horn, and pastel twisted marshmallow strands for the mane). The Movie Night Board (63) uses a rimmed wooden serving tray and packs it with all sorts of typical movie candies and treats in a very artful way.

Some boards I thought were just so-so. The Winter Wonderland Board (75) was basically three rounds of decreasing-sized brie placed on top of each other to build a snowman. That’s a lot of brie! The Valentine’s Day Board (79) was just a lot of red (strawberries, pom seeds, raspberries, beet crackers, and red M&Ms). Same with the Easter Candy Board (85). It was just different pastel candies layered in the shape of an egg. The rest of the holiday boards followed suite with items placed to look like a flag (87), a Jack ‘o Lantern (89), a turkey (91), a Menorah (93), and Santa (95). Sorry, but kind of ho-hum.

Brown peaked my interest again with the Breakfast and Brunch Board section. I thought the Pancake Board (107) was pretty inventive (including sliced bananas artfully arranged on top of their peels, raspberries and strawberries, whipped cream, peanut butter and hazelnut spread, and of course, syrups). I also liked the Build-Your-Own Parfait Board (109) and the Bagel Board (111). The Bloody Mary Board (113) was a triumph! What a great idea. Brown suggests putting small bottles of red and green hot sauces so guests can get the right amount of heat. There are the regular garnishes but Brown goes up and beyond with other pickled veggies, a variety of cheese cubes, blue cheese, peppered bacon, cocktail shrimp, shishito peppers, Everything Bagel spice and red pepper flakes. Skewers are included! She mimics this idea with the Mimosa Board (117) with all sorts of berry and fruit garnishes.

The Meal Board section tended to be just buffets jammed on a board: Pizza Lovers Board (121), Taco Board (123), Mezze (125), Grilled Cheese Board (129), Sandwich Board (133), and BBQ Board (135). The Cobb Salad Board was the most inventive (131).

Besides the aforementioned dessert-like boards, Brown includes a separate section specifically for more of them. The S’mores Board (139) was cute but I’m not sure how practical it was with the marshmallows being already broiled in a small skillet. It would be great if you were around a campfire roasting your own. Decorate-Your-Own Cupcake Board (141) would be cool for a kid’s party. I’ve seen the Chocolate Fondue (143) and the Sundae Board (145) before but her ingredient suggestions are good and plentiful.

While a lot of the recipes call for premade items, she does include a few recipes in the back of the book for things like cookie bites, snack mixes, cheese-stuffed jalapenos, Pigs in a Blanket (!?!?!), that pumpkin cheese ball, assorted dips, toasts/croutons, and sandwiches.

I actually bought this book for a Christmas present. This friend entertains a lot and I think she will utilize it. and I wish I had put these useful board items together with it though for a complete gift.

Depending on your gift-giving budget, you could include the board or not. You could also include a guide like Building Boards.

Would I buy this book for myself? Probably not. I do think it will be used but I will probably stick with Instagram. I did get a lot of ideas and I do (again) love the list of “must haves.”

I’m also linking up with Foodies Read for January.