I love dark chocolate candy with almonds, but it is very expensive. I eat it every now and then as a special treat. I also love Haagan Daz Swiss Vanilla ice cream with chocolate covered almonds. I decided to try to make some candy at home to save some money. I already own candy molds that are appropriate. Some are smaller, but some are large enough to accommodate nuts.
Yesterday, I bought some raw almonds from one of the farmers markets where I shop for groceries.
This store also sells roasted almonds, and dark chocolate covered almonds. The raw almonds cost $3.99 per pound and the dark chocolate covered almonds cost $7.99 per pound. I bought the raw almonds and roasted them in the oven for a few minutes until they were slightly darker and their flavor was enhanced.
I found three different recipes for homemade dark chocolate candy that uses cocoa powder instead of chocolate bars, honey, coconut butter and vanilla extract. They also included a pinch of salt. I don't know if I want to include the salt or not because I don't like salty candy. I'm not sure if the salt is used to enhance the flavor of the candy or to create a slightly salty taste.
Living Healthy with Chocolate Recipe
I learned from reading several recipes and from watching a video on Youtube that the addition of honey requires that the chocolate be "tempered" to keep the candy from melting at room temperature.
One of the recipes recommends using a marble slab to temper the chocolate but I have a granite slab. I found from reading the comments that a granite slab is just as good as marble.
I was writing as I was cooking and this candy did not turn out as I expected.
I thought that the candy would have a smooth chocolate texture but the chocolate never did melt without hot water. I use this powder to make chocolate icing all of the time, but I add boiling water to it to make it smooth.
Everything that I read said to make sure that the chocolate did not get water in it, so I didn't add water.
The candy taste like fudge instead of like smooth dark chocolate. I thought about taking some of the fudge-like candy to see if I could make it smoother, but I decided that I would have to try that on a different day.
I also substituted coconut butter instead of cacao butter because the cacao butter was not at my grocery store. The coconut butter has a wonderful flavor and tastes very good in the candy.
I would not make this candy again with the same ingredients. I would
go ahead and use a dark chocolate bitter sweet bar instead of powder and I would order the cacao butter if I could not find it locally.
I learn by doing, and I remember because of my experiences. This candy will not go to waste because it is very tasty.
Bon Appetit!
