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–+ servings
There's no better way to kick off your Thanksgiving feast than with a show-stopping appetizer, and this turkey-shaped charcuterie board is equal parts adorable and delicious!

Turkey Day Charcuterie

There's no better way to kick off your Thanksgiving feast than with a show-stopping appetizer, and this turkey-shaped charcuterie board is equal parts adorable and delicious!
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Yield 25 skewers

Equipment

  • 25 bamboo skewers any size works, but we use the 12" skewers and feel they work best for both decoration and eating

Ingredients
 

  • 1 pear, cut in half vertically
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla icing, or craft glue per preference
  • Optional decorations for the pear "body": a piece of candy corn for the nose, pretzel sticks for legs, pecans for feet, and a pair of candy eyes
  • 25 small mozzarella balls (ciliegine is a nice size)
  • 25 cherry tomatoes
  • 25 pitted green olives
  • 25 1-inch orange cheddar cheese cubes
  • 25 slices thin cut salami rounds
  • 25 artichoke heart quarters (from one 14-ounce can whole artichoke hearts, drained and quartered)
  • 25 dried apricots
  • 25 basil leaves
  • Options: Many substitutions are possible, including using other varieties of pitted olives, dried fruit (a pretty color always helps!), meat (such as hard salami rounds or even Lebanon bologna－for locals of course!). Cooked tortellinis, pepperoncini peppers, and even fresh fruit like grapes are nice options too. Plan on 25 pieces so you have one for each skewer.

Instructions

  1. Make the body of the turkey: With the flat side down and the narrow end of the pear acting as the "head," use a dot of vanilla icing (or craft glue) to stick on the eyes and nose. Set aside to dry.
  2. Make the feathers: Arrange your ingredients in an assembly line to build the skewers. Start by skewering one mozzarella ball, moving it to about 2 inches from the blunt base of the skewer. Add a cherry tomato (I skewer them vertically) and an olive. Next, add a cheese square. Then take a salami slice, fold it twice, and skewer it so it sits horizontally. Skewer an artichoke (handle gently, they are delicate) with the fan facing horizontally. Finally, vertically skewer the apricot. Repeat to make 25 skewers.
  3. Final Touch: Once all the skewers are finished, and you are ready to assemble. Add the basil leaf to the dull end of the skewer for the final touch. I do this just before serving to prevent wilting or browning.
  4. Assemble the turkey: Find the halfway point (from top to bottom) of the pear body, and stick one skewer in each side. These will be your base skewers, from which you will build up.
  5. Continue adding skewers until you fill in the sides and top of the pear, like feathers. You will need to layer some on top of one another and can tuck some skewers in without actually spearing the pear. It will start to feel crowded, but the visual is nice when the skewers are close together. (That said, if you can't get them all in, reserve some to add later or serve on the side of the platter.)
  6. Place two pretzel sticks at the bottom of the pear to look like legs. These don't need to be pushed into the pear. The pear can sit on top of the edge of the pretzels. You can also break the pretzels to make them shorter, if needed.
  7. Angle a pecan out from the bottom of each pretzel stick to look like feet.
  8. Gobble, gobble!!
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