Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Sweet Stuff : Dark Chocolate Cherry-Almond Clusters

 
Doesn't just the name of these morsels just make your mouth water? Let me tell you, it's hard to just eat one! I just LOVE the combination of dark chocolate and dried cherries. They are the perfect combination together. 
Even though I know I am eating something sweet, I like to know that it is "semi" healthy as well. There is added benefit of eating dark chocolate that is at least 70% cacao and these sweets contain almonds that are packed with minerals, protein and healthy fats. Almonds are also one of the best known sources of Vitamin E. So go ahead and have 1...maybe 2!
 
Recipe
 
1 cup whole almonds, chopped and toasted
1/2 cup dried cherries, chopped
6 oz dark or bittersweet chocolate (60-70% cocoa), finely chopped

1. Chop the chocolate into a small bowl. Microwave on High for 30 second intervals until chocolate has melted. 

2.Stir fruit and nut mixture into bowl and mix well. 

3. Spoon heaping TB sized clusters of the chocolate mix onto wax or parchment paper lined baking sheets about 1 inch apart. Refrigerate until cool about 20 minutes. Store and serve at room temperature.

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Who likes to change it up?

~If you don't like dark chocolate try this recipe with milk or white chocolate.
~Use chopped peanuts instead of almonds.

~Replace cherries with dried cranberries.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey, thanks so much for this recipe! I think I'm going to try it. I'm glad you mentioned the other two main chocolates, as I don't like dark. Isn't that unfortunate, since it's the best out of the three? But I'm thinking I'll try milk chocolate with the cherries and almonds.

Meal Planning Made Simple said...

Yes! Let me know how the milk chocolate version turns out. :)

Unknown said...

Hey Kristina, just wanted to let you know that I made this with the milk chocolate. I ended up using dried cranberries and walnuts. It was pretty good. The only thing was that I think I used too much chocolate as I didn't follow your amounts precisely (which I should have done, you know what you're talking about, lol!). I just sort of threw the whole bag in there to use it up and that ended up making it a bit too rich. But the cranberries and walnuts with milk chocolate overall worked well together. Thanks again for posting this recipe!

Anonymous said...

I'm hooked on these dark chocolate cherry-almond clusters. They've been made several times in my house and each time they are gone in a flash. This last time I made them I used a multi-mix dried berries, it was exceptional! Mom Delores

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