com-pel-ling {kuh m-pel-ing}
having a powerful and irresistible effect; requiring acute admiration, attention or respect
Dark chocolate. Nut butter. Sea salt.
Can anyone relate with me?
Upon the arrival in my inbox of a blog post from Sprouted Kitchen titled "Dark Chocolate Almond Butter Cups", I was immediately drawn to these little beauties. If the title wasn't enticing enough, her pictures absolutely draw your imagination in to these mouthwatering, smooth, sweet, & salty delicacies that could be yours in less than an hour.
With an upcoming casual dinner party planned, the perfect opportunity presented itself for their debut. I was honestly a little skeptical from past experiences working with melted chocolate...could this really be as easy as it seemed?
Setting forth on my little project, I was pleasantly surprised at the simplicity of the recipe. Using Ghirardelli 60% cacao bittersweet chocolate baking chips, (a staple in our home!) over a makeshift double boiler (stainless bowl over a medium pot of boiling water), the chocolate melted beautifully.
Making a couple minor changes (I scraped the inside of half a vanilla bean into the chocolate, omitted the vanilla in the nut butter filling and eliminated the icing sugar), the following recipe is true to the Sprouted Kitchen original.
1/2 cup natural almond butter, room temperature
2 Tbsp honey
1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
7 oz. dark chocolate (not to exceed 70%)
1/2 vanilla bean (seeds scraped from inside)
coarse sea salt for garnish
Line a mini muffin cup pan with papers. Combine almond butter, honey and sea salt. Using a heaping teaspoon, portion your centers, rolling into small balls. Melt chocolate over double boiler, stirring constantly. Stir in vanilla bean seeds. Pour a teaspoon of chocolate in the bottom of each mini muffin paper, rotate to coat sides. Place nut butter ball on chocolate. Top with another teaspoon of melted chocolate to cover. Allow chocolate to set for 5 minutes in fridge. Remove and sprinkle with coarse sea salt. Refrigerate for 20 minutes before serving. Store in fridge or at room temperature.
And a hit they were...comments ranging from, "I would never know this is homemade", to "is this actually good for you?!"
Thank you Sprouted Kitchen for compelling me and adding joy to my life that can be passed along...
