AN EASY, DELECTABLE VALENTINE’S TREAT
Give your special someone a luscious gift that is also good for the heart
This recipe is a luscious way to celebrate your love, or at least your love of chocolate, in a way that loves you back.
It has just four easy-to-find ingredients, each lending its own sensuous element and remarkable health benefits. Rich, dark chocolate, with its intoxicating melt-in-your mouth quality; a touch of fragrant grated orange zest; a generous helping of crunchy almonds; and chewy, sweet-tart dried cherries all bring a considerable dose of health-protective antioxidants along with their flavour.
The almonds and cherries add essential nutrients and longerlasting satisfaction, to boot.
Making this candy is almost as easy as eating it.
Just melt the chocolate, stir in the zest, pour into a parchmentlined pan and scatter with the fruit and nuts. ( You could swap in any nut and dried fruit you like or have on hand.) Let the candy set in the refrigerator for an hour, then break it into pieces.
It’s a simple, but delightful, Valentine’s Day gift that is good for your heart in every sense of the word.
The bark needs about an hour’s refrigeration to set. Store it at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days. From nutritionist and author Ellie Krieger.
Makes: 24 pieces
1 cup (250 mL) whole, skin-on almonds
12 oz (340 mL) dark chocolate, finely chopped (60 to 70 per cent cocoa solids, or bittersweet) 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) finely grated orange zest
1/3 cup (80 mL) tart dried cherries (coarsely chopped, if they are large)
1. Preheat the oven to 375 F (190 C). Pleat a 22-inch-long (55.9 cm) piece of parchment paper lengthwise to make a nine-inch-wide (22.5 cm) strip, then fit it into a nine-by-13-inch (22.5-by-33 cm) baking dish like a sling, pressing the paper into the corners to line the bottom and the 2 short sides of the pan. (The paper should overhang the two short sides.)
2. Spread the almonds on a baking sheet; toast in the oven for 7 or 8 minutes, until fragrant. Let them cool.
3. Place about three-quarters of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a pot with a few inches of barely bubbling water (over medium or medium-low heat). Heat, stirring, until the chocolate has melted. Transfer the bowl to a folded dish towel on the countertop. Add the remaining chocolate, stirring until melted, then stir in the orange zest.
4. Pour that chocolate into the lined baking dish, and use an offset spatula to spread it evenly. Scatter the toasted almonds and dried cherries over the top, then refrigerate for 1 hour, just to set.
5. Remove the chocolate from the baking dish and discard the parchment.
6. Cut or break up the bark into 24 pieces that are about the same size. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2 days.