I don’t know how many of my readers are college students like myself, but if you are then you must either be preparing for or finishing up your finals week. While finals week is always chaotic, this semester added a little extra dash of discord by having us complete all our final exams, papers and projects online.

I thought my advanced Spanish phonetics course was difficult when I was taking it in-person; I never could’ve imagined the stress of completing my final project without my professor there, in my bedroom that is five degrees hotter than the rest of my house, while listening to the sound of the electric drill my brother is using to install a new garage door.

I can only imagine what similar or worse situations my peers have been through.

After all that, I say we deserve a treat, don’t you?

(If you’re not a college student don’t feel left out! I’m sure you deserve a treat just as much. We’re all going through it, am I right?)

With that being said, I present:

THE DESSERT BOARD!

This board is less so focused on cheese and meats, and entirely focused on sweets. I didn’t have to look far for the items I used, though. I found everything in the fridge or cupboard, and my mom was sweet enough to donate some of her chocolate treats from Mother’s Day.

While I did use mostly pre-made items, I always like to add at least one homemade element to my boards, so I made a super simple and light ricotta dip.

All you do is get a bowl and combine a half cup of ricotta, the juice from half a lemon and the sweetener of your choice until you reach your desired taste. I used two packets of Truvia stevia because my skinny mom is on a diet, but a couple teaspoons of sugar would work just the same.

If you want a more indulgent dip, try mixing the ricotta and your sweetener with a dash of vanilla extract and some mini chocolate chips for an easy take on a cannoli dip.

After mixing the ingredients you can either leave the dip a little thick if you like the texture or mix it with a hand blender on a medium setting until smooth. Top with a bit of lemon zest and you’re ready to build the rest of the board!

For mine I added some fruity elements with fresh strawberries and raspberries, apricot jam and craisins. You can’t have a dessert board (or any dessert at all, for that matter) without some chocolate, though, so I included some chocolate-covered figs and chunks of nutty chocolate bark.

I like to have a “vehicle” of sorts on my boards as well, so I laid out a row of shortbread cookies to dunk in the dip, spread jam on or pile fruit and chocolate on.

To finish the board, I sprinkled some broken chocolate chunks from the figs onto the strawberries, scattered some almonds in empty spaces and garnished with fresh mint sprigs from my backyard.

Whip yourself up a dessert board, pour a glass of rosé (I enjoyed mine with Dark Horse’s) and celebrate surviving this semester or anything else that you deserve a celebration for!

When we focus on our little victories, it helps us realize that, despite everything going on, life can be pretty sweet.