Friday, December 2, 2011

Chocolate Time!

Who doesn't love chocolate?  As a child and teenager, I actually used to despise the taste of dark chocolate.  I thought, "What's the point of eating it if it tastes bitter?  Chocolate is supposed to be sweet and 'melt in your mouth' good!  Milk chocolate=real chocolate".  That was that.

Well, I've come quite a ways since those days and all kinds of chocolate types have become some of my most treasured treats.
Whether its baked into a dessert or eaten raw, chocolate is always a rockstar!  So, in honor of the weekend and a hard week of work behind me, I thought I'd prepare a quick, no-bake, no-hastle chocolate dessert recipe!
My chocolate nut clusters are inspired by Ellie Krieger's cherry nut clusters.
Krieger is a fantastic nutritional chef featured on the Food Network!  My recipe is very similar to hers, but I add walnuts and use semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of chopped dark chocolate.


Chocolate Nut Clusters



Ingredients:


1/2 cup toasted almonds,chopped 
1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped 
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped 
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 


Directions:


1. In a bowl, combine the almonds, walnuts, and cherries



2. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or wax paper

3. Place half of the chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler over simmering water, over low heat, stirring continuously 

4. Remove the double broiler from the heat and stir in the rest of the chocolate 

5. Remove the top pan with the chocolate in it, gently wipe the bottom of it and set it aside 

6. Replace the simmering water in the bottom pan with warm tap water. Put the pan of melted chocolate on top of the warm water 

7. Stir the fruit-nut mixture into the chocolate.



8. Spoon out heaping tablespoon-sized clusters of the chocolate mixture onto the baking sheet



9. Put them in the refrigerator to set for 15 minutes. Store and serve at room temperature.

Beautiful colors!

Perfection

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