The Nut House

I've been told I might be a squirrel. I don't think we go a week without having nuts/seeds of some kind in the house. I'm not going to say it, because it's not very family friendly, but you can fill in the blank I love ____. I bet you just chuckled like a little kid! But alas, it's true. I love cashews, pistachios, pecans, but the most used in my home is almonds. We buy the ginormous size bag of raw almonds and I just roast them at home. But I wanted to try something a little fancier.

I've admitted I'm a chocoholic. I have a place in my heart for dark chocolate especially. There was once an incredibly exotic truffle from Lindt, that had me running to the outlet in Kittery. Cinnamon Coriander. To my dismay, they discontinued it (insert sad face here). I went in search of other chocolates that compared to it, but unfortunately came up empty. One Christmas, my husband surprised me by making his own truffles. Bless his heart, made my favorite truffle in the basement and kept it a secret for days. Imagine my smile Christmas morning when I got to try one. Fast forward a couple of years, when he comes home with a little bag of chocolate dusted almonds from a former chocolate rep. A light bulb came on.

I'm going to make Cinnamon and Coriander dusted almonds.

Ingredients:

About 2 1/2 cups of roasted almonds
6 oz good quality chocolate chips melted
Hershey's Special Dark cocoa powder (or another unsweetened powder)
Cinnamon
Crushed coriander
Sea salt

Coriander is also known as cilantro. These are the dried seeds. They are incredibly fragrant when crushed. They have a citrusy flavor, that just adds a little zing to recipes.

I measure out my cocoa. I chose the Special Dark kind, just because I love that darker/richer taste. I sifted it just so it's lighter and doesn't have any big clumps. I add in the crushed coriander (about 2 Tbsp), cinnamon (about 2 1/2 Tbsp) and a good pinch of coarse sea salt. Mix the powder and spices together.

Notice the bowl above? Yes, this can be a little bit of a messy process to make these. By the end of this, my cutting board and my hands where covered in chocolate.

Next I melt the chocolate in the microwave. I do this slowly as to not burn the chocolate. I just keep taking it out and stir it with a spatula until it's shiny and smooth.

Add the almonds into the chocolate and stir to coat evenly.

Using a slotted spoon, I take a little out at a time and roll them around in the cocoa mixture, shake off the excess, place them on a plate to harden. Keep repeating the process until all the almonds are covered in deliciousness.

Holy Wow! These are decadent without the guilt. Just a few and you feel like you've satisfied that sneaky chocolate craving. Next time, I think I'm going to get even crazier and add something to my melted chocolate, like vanilla extract or orange liqueur? The possibilities are endless!

Now go get nutty!