Valentine's Day is almost here! If you're looking for ideas for the two of you and want something homemade, Sarah at ThatLemonadeLife.com has a deliciously easy post about setting up a dessert bar. She planned hers around the winter holidays but emphasizes this dessert bar can be changed up for any occasion. We heartedly agree so we're happy to include it on our blog. Sarah has wonderful posts about home decor, recipes, lifestyle articles, and more. Please visit and support her work!
How to Set Up an Easy Dessert Bar by Sarah at ThatLemonadeLife.com
Have you heard of dessert bars before? I’ve seen them at big parties and always thought what a great idea! A dessert bar is basically a big smorgasbord of different desserts for people to choose what they want. But what’s also great about dessert bars, is that you can make them as big or as small as you want! So I decided I wanted to try one of my own for my husband and I to share. A dessert bar is easy to put together, fun to munch on, and can be scaled to the size you want. It’s a perfect dessert option for the upcoming New Year’s Eve, or any special occasion!
As you can see, we did a small version of a dessert bar since it was only the two of us. I decided to make a little board with the desserts on it, and then I also did a separate area for hot chocolate toppings!
For the dessert board, I used a variety of little desserts. Some were homemade, and some store bought. You can make this as easy as you like…you can use homemade treats, or store bought, or treats that were given as gifts! It’s very easy to customize not only the size of the dessert bar, but also the ease of set up and types of dessert.
For our board, I used some homemade treats that I baked earlier in the month and have been saving in the freezer. The homemade treats I used are chocolate crinkle cookies, cranberry white chocolate shortbread cookies, candy cane brownies, and fudge.
But for the rest of the board, I filled it all in with store bought goodies! On the corners I added some white chocolate peppermint pretzels, and some white chocolate snack cakes. I placed a small bowl of melted cookie butter in the center for dipping the pretzel sticks I placed next to it.
After placing the homemade treats on the board, I filled in the gaps with various candies…gummy bears, assorted truffles and chocolates, and mini candy canes!
Once the board was set up, I finished the dessert bar with a little hot chocolate station.
For this section of the dessert bar, we have mugs of hot chocolate (of course!) and all our favorite toppings!
We chose whipped cream, mini marshmallows, gummy bears, shredded coconut, crushed candy cane, and mini chocolate chips. Plus some cinnamon sticks and mini candy canes for stirring!
We also threw on some caramels for good measure, and a couple tea bags for a hot chocolate alternative!
After that, everything was set up! All that was left to do was sit back, watch a Christmas movie, enjoy some desserts, and build the perfect cup of hot chocolate!
So fun!
DESSERT BAR IDEAS
Desserts:
- Homemade treats (cookies, brownies, fudge, candy, slices of cake or cheesecake, coffee cake, cupcakes, etc)
- Store-bought snack cakes
- Pretzels
- Dipping sauces (caramel, nut butter, cookie butter, chocolate spread, Nutella)
- Chocolate covered pretzels
- Candies, caramels, chocolates
- Store-bought cookies or cakes or bakery items
- Candy canes
- Jam or jelly
- Chocolate covered or flavored marshmallows
- Honey
- Cinnamon rolls
- Fruit
- Nuts
HOT CHOCOLATE IDEAS
- Hot chocolate or tea
- Liquors
- Mini marshmallows
- Whipped cream
- Gummy bears or other small candies
- Mini chocolate chips
- Honey
- Crushed peppermint
- Sprinkles
- Cinnamon sticks
- Mini candy canes
- Shredded coconut
- Hot fudge or caramel sauce
- Crushed peanuts
- Crushed toffee
- Cool whip
This dessert bar was so easy to set up and we had a lot of fun with it! It would be the perfect dessert for any special occasion coming up and especially great this time of year with all the treats floating around!
What would you put on your dessert bar? Let me know in the comments! And if you try it for yourself, tag me on social media- I’d love to see what you come up with!
*All photography credit to: ThatLemonadeLife.com
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!
