Homemade Chocolate Candies

You know how ridiculously expensive those dark chocolate coated super fruits and nuts are? The ones that come in fancy re-sealable packages? They're actually really easy to make at home, and I decided to make a batch this weekend. I only used three ingredients: dark chocolate, dried cranberries, and walnuts. The chocolate I used came in a bulk 2.5 kg package from the Lindt Outlet near me. A trip to Costco took care of the other two ingredients. I didn't even need to turn on the stove or use the microwave oven to make these, which is perfectly fine with me, seeing how hot the summer weather already is. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces
• 1/2 dried cranberries

Place chocolate chips in a heatable bowl, and over securely with cling wrap. Place on top of the fridge where a warm spot is for about an hour or so. A windowsill warmed by sunlight, or the interior of a car will work as well. When chocolate is melted, pour in dried fruit and walnuts, and stir to coat completely. Line the chocolate coated in pieces or small chunks on a lined baking sheet and slide into the fridge (freezer if impatient) for a 15 minutes to allow chocolate to firm up. Enjoy when chocolate has firmed up!

Fruitcake Mini-muffins

This is one of my holiday recipes this year. Find the other ones here: 

Cornbread Muffins | Green Roulade | Gingerbread Snaps

Fruitcake Mini-muffins
These aren't exactly like the fruitcake you see in supermarkets, with the green and red cherries. They're more like a clafoutis scooped into mini-muffin tins, or a loaded, muffin-shaped fruit and nut pancake. Anyway, it got my family's thumbs-up, so I thought maybe you would like it too. I don't add a lot of sugar because the dried fruits have tons anyway. 

The Recipe
Dry ingredients:

• 1/2 cup barley flour
• 1/4 cup teff flour
• 1 tbsp coconut flour
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt

Wet ingredients:

• 2 whole eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 tbsp melted butter

Fruits and nuts (feel free to make your own substitutes):

• 1 medium apple
• 1 tbsp butter 
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup dried apricots, diced
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped 
• 1/2 cup toasted almonds, chopped
• 1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

Peel and dice apple. Sauté in 1 tbsp butter and cinnamon until apples are cooked and some of the water content has evaporated. Set aside to cool. Sift and stir together dry ingredients. Add fruits and nuts and stir to make sure everything is coated in flour. Mix all wet ingredients together and add to flour and fruit mixture in one go. Stir to combine. Spoon into lined mini-muffin tins and bake at 350 ºF (175 ºC) for 10 to 12 minutes. Toothpick should come out clean. 

Dried fruits and sautéed apple.

Chopped walnuts and almonds.

Before baking.

After baking. I couldn't get a better picture of them – they were devoured before I could get a better shot.