Patriotic Snack Board With A Buttercream Flag Star
This patriotic snack board is a fun red, white, and blue party tray made with Chex Mix, popcorn, shortbread cookies, strawberries, chocolate, and a buttercream-piped flag star. It is perfect for 4th of July, Memorial Day, patriotic cookouts, and summer parties.
Servings: 10 people (snacking lightly)
Calories: 250kcal
Equipment
- Small bowls or ramekins optional
- Piping bags
- 4B piping tip
- Spatula
- Small knife
- Parchment paper, optional
- Paper towel
- Charcuterie board, cutting board, or large serving board
- Bag clips or rubber bands
- Damp towel or non-slip mat
Ingredients
- 7 oz buttercream frosting softened to room temperature (200g)
- Red food gel coloring
- Navy blue food gel coloring
- Chex Mix
- Popcorn
- Shortbread cookies
- Fresh strawberries
- Chocolate bars broken into smaller pieces
- Red white, and blue sprinkles
Instructions
Color the frosting
- Divide the buttercream into three small bowls. Keep a slightly larger amount in the bowl for white frosting. Tint the other two bowls with red and navy blue gel food coloring.
- Fold the color in gently with a spatula. Add the color gradually, since gel coloring is very strong and can affect the frosting texture if you use too much.
Set up the piping bags
- Fit a 4B piping tip into a piping bag. Snip a small hole at the end of the bag, then pull the tip through.
- Fill separate piping bags with red, white, and blue frosting. Secure the tops with bag clips or rubber bands.
- Use a separate tip for each color, or rinse and dry the tip well between color changes.
Prepare the strawberries
- Wash and dry the strawberries, then slice them into even pieces.
- Optional: lightly treat the strawberry slices with lemon juice to help keep them looking fresh, then pat them dry before adding them to the board.
Pipe the star design
- Start with white frosting. Pipe one dot near the top center of your board to mark the top point of the star.
- Add a column of 5 dots downward, then build out the star shape with more rows of dots. Fill in the star, leaving the top left section empty.
- Switch to blue frosting and fill in the empty section. Then use red frosting to pipe stripes across the white part of the star.
- Practice on parchment paper first if you want to test the shape before piping directly on the board.
Build the snack board
- Fill the spaces around the star with Chex Mix, especially in the corners and small gaps.
- Add popcorn near the edges of the board.
- Place shortbread cookies around the board, then tuck strawberry slices between them.
- Scatter chocolate pieces throughout the board.
- Sprinkle the red, white, and blue sprinkles over the blue section of the frosting star.
Notes
- Serve with napkins, small plates, and tongs or spoons.
- Keep the board away from direct sunlight or heat so the frosting does not melt.
- To make it ahead, pipe the frosting star and refrigerate the board. Add the strawberries, sprinkles, popcorn, Chex Mix, cookies, and chocolate closer to serving.