Has anyone tried to make their own Dark Chocolate-Covered Almonds?

[Gavin LeFever]

Almonds are bad-ass in the nutritional and delicious world.

Dark chocolate has antioxidants.

The combination is awesome. They sell them at the store for ridiculous prices, though, and add a ton of unneeded sugar. A small tin, about a cup or so, is like $4.

If anyone has experience making shit like this, I would love to hear about it. If not, I will post my results here.

 

[redjako]

I'll look forward to your results. True dark chocolate is so damn bitter I eat a little piece every other day or so, with almonds it would be coo.

Though, I'd probably eat too much dark chocolate..from what I remember, its a very minimalistic serving as an ideal correct?

 

[Gavin LeFever]

no idea. i just need to find a way to handle or fix my dark chocolate almond craving. it's expensive and a cup is like 2200 calories.

 

[nexus8793]

cooking with dark chocolate is a bitch and a half. It could be done...but more likely only with shitty dark chocolate, like the 54% cocoa kind, not the healthier (supposedly) higher cocoa percentage kind I can't really see melting well at all. The kind of chocolate that is meant to be cooked with is NOT good for you unfortunately. I have a recipe here that I've used to make regular chocolage covered almonds, well mixed nuts actually, that were delicious, but not so nutritious. If you want it letme know

 

[Jumpman24]

Sounds like a good idea.

 

[erco]

decent dark chocolate is difficult to work with. You're going to have to use a double boiler, which isn't too difficult, but maintaining proper temperature so the whole things doesn't break or separate is rough without a candy thermometer.

 

[Glen Sonnabend]

raw cocoa, either in powdered or nibs, is actually very low in calories and carbs for the amount you get. 14g of either is actually a TON. The stuff is incredibly lightweight and rich.

 

[joshetc]

Almonds are bad-ass in the nutritional and delicious world.

Dark chocolate has antioxidants.

The combination is awesome. They sell them at the store for ridiculous prices, though, and add a ton of unneeded sugar. A small tin, about a cup or so, is like $4.

If anyone has experience making shit like this, I would love to hear about it. If not, I will post my results here.

I've never made almonds, but I used to make chocolate covered cherries with an ex. You'll need a double boiler and probably a good candy thermometer as mentioned. To be honest, if you want to use high quality chocolate it is going to be a pain in the ass. Milk chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate is much easier to work with. I would just buy almonds and chocolate, and cut the chocolate into "big enough" pieces. Is it that important that they are covered? Just throw one of each in your mouth and chew away. I would look on food.com and see if there is anything about working with dark chocolate on there. I know Alton Brown goes into a lot of cooking theory and has worked with chocolate on numerous occasions.

Another thing you might try doing is laying the almonds out on a baking sheet and putting a piece of chocolate over top of each one. Put the flatter end of the almond down, and balance the chocolate on top. Set the oven to like 350F and put the baking sheet in the oven. Now watch closely and when the chocolate starts to drip down, take it out. It wont be a complete cover, but the chocolate will more or less fuse with the almonds. If you preheat the oven, the chocolate may burn, I'd let it cool to at least 150F before putting another batch in.

 

[Gavin LeFever]

i have thought of the above ideas. i probably will give them a shot. maybe if it goes poorly, i'll stop eating these damn things. lol.