Want to try your hand making your own home made chocolate bars? These almond chocolate bars are crunchy and irresistible. Plus there are made with only three ingredients and there is no special equipment needed! This is a pushy recipe Dear Reader!
I'll share this recipe with a strong warning-these chocolate bars or bites are ridiculously moreish. I call them nuggies because you can make these like chocolate bars or bite sized nuggets aka nuggies.
Dark and milk chocolate together is the best of both worlds! I find milk chocolate too sweet but I like the creaminess and I like dark chocolate but it can sometimes be too harsh and varies a lot. My sweet spot if 50% dark and 50% milk chocolate. If you haven't tried this combo before please do! :)
Also did you know some brands have a lot of sugar like 13g per row of chocolate (that's almost 3 teaspoons!). I'm not trying to sugar shame but it's something I recently discovered that surprised me!
There are 2 ways of melting chocolate - in the microwave or double boiler on the stovetop and each has its pros and cons.
1 - Microwave method of melting chocolate:
The microwave is used to melt chocolate in the microwave using a glass or ceramic bowl. I melt dark chocolate 90% power and milk chocolate on 80% power and white chocolate on 50% heat (this is the chocolate most susceptible to burn) all in 1 minute increments.
Pros - it melts chocolate faster and there's no chance of water splashes. This is the method used at L'Ecole Valrhona (school of chocolate) in France where there is a wall of microwaves to use!
Cons - this carries a risk of letting chocolate burn as you can't watch the chocolate as carefully.
2 - Stovetop method of melting chocolate:
The traditional way of melting chocolate is in a double boiler (a bowl placed on top of a pot). Bring a couple of inches of water to boil in a saucepan and place a heatproof bowl on top (make sure that it fits snugly and the base doesn't touch the water).
Pros - chocolate doesn't tend to burn this way because you are watching the chocolate.
Cons - this method takes longer and you may be able to get some water in it.
Watch your nuts! Nuts burn very quickly because of the high oil content. Your timer and nose will often tell you the way. You can also use chopped, skinned hazelnuts or macadamias. Most nuts will work well. Do not melt chocolate with nuts in it because the nuts can burn faster than the chocolate melts.
Allergic to nuts? Try puffed quinoa or crushed cornflakes!
I was inspired by some chocolate bites I was given when I visited Parkes. The Dish Cafe makes these addictive little chocolate bites and I ate two boxes of these sharing them with Mr NQN somewhat reluctantly.
I had every intention of giving these to the parcel guy that always drops off our packages. Even pre-COVID he used to make sure to knock every time while other delivery people just send the packages straight to the post office even when you're at home waiting. Nowadays he always knocks and makes sure that we are there watching from a safe distance. I don't want to oversell the relationship - we aren't best buddies but he's polite and good at his job and I appreciate it more than ever nowadays because he is our lifeline to help us avoid going out to the shops.
"I'm going to give him some of these chocolate bars!" I told Mr NQN. This sparked a discussion about giving people food that wasn't packaged. Mr NQN thought that he might not eat it because it wasn't professionally packaged and sealed up. Just because there are some weirdos out there that ruin the fun for everyone else. I saw what he meant so we thought we'd give him a bottle of nice wine.
"What if he's in Alcoholics Anonymous?" I said. We had to draw the line somewhere because we couldn't figure out what we could give him so a bottle of wine it was.
Except I was in my pyjamas when he knocked so Mr NQN answered the door.
"Give him the wine!" I said passing him the bottle of wine. Mr NQN looked panicked. He hates talking to strangers.
"Errr, do you like wine? This is for you, thanks mate..." Mr NQN said awkwardly handing him the bottle of wine.
"Oh cool thanks," he said. Not awkward at all! ;)
So tell me Dear Reader, do you ever make things awkward? Have you ever made your own chocolate bars?
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