Easy Nut Clusters or Fruit&Nut Chocolate

This post is another of my lazy foodie experiments. I had half a slab of dark chocolate left over from last year's birthday gift (CV was thoughtful enough to remember that I prefer dark chocolate, but that was the end of his thought process ;) Hence a big slab of dark chocolate which I was able to chip away at, a little piece at a time, but never got over)

The quality was good enough- 70% cacao, smooth on melting and made a nice 'snap' on breaking. Since there is a definite dearth of delicious fruit and nut chocolates in the market, I decided to use up the dark chocolate and whatever dry fruits I happened to have at home to make my own. In this case it was walnuts and cranberries. Most of the recipes I looked up combined dark chocolate with semi-sweet chocolate chips. Since my dark chocolate was almost bitter I substituted milk chocolate chips for the semi-sweet.

The results were not too bad. Take a look below

Gooey, chocolatey nut and fruit clusters hot off the stove

After cooling off in the refrigerator for 15 minutes

With a drizzle of caramel on top- a delicious variation

Look at all the walnuts - good for the brain too!!!

The delicious clusters were gone in two days! I don't feel sorry about it since the dark chocolate, walnuts and cranberries are so good for my health ( ;D) 

Rabbit-Ear Apples

'An apple a day keeps the doctor away' goes the old adage. That almost says it all. The fruit is very nutritional as well as extremely delicious. I remember growing up in India where apple is a seasonal fruit. It is available for only a few months each year. Here we are lucky enough to get apples year round and should enjoy them more.
I came across this simple way to dress up a regular old apple in a book called ' The Best of Taiwanese Cuisine'. The author, Karen Hulene Bartell, lived in Taiwan for five and a half years and was able to savor the delicious cuisine first hand. It is definitely a very good choice to look to, when in search of some good Taiwanese recipes.
As in China, the meal in Taiwan too is rounded off with some slices of fresh fruits. And I found the picture very cute. So I tried making some too, following the instructions in the book. The result was quite satisfactory.



Instructions to make Rabbit-Ear Apples:
Slice the apple into eight pieces. At the midpoint of a slice, cut an elongated 'V' into the skin. Now slice under the 'V', between the peel and slice. Make sure the skin is still attached firmly at the front base of the slice. Peel off the back half of skin . The 'V' becomes the rabbit's ears and the apple peel becomes the face.
Repeat the process with the other slices. Serve as a garnish for a fruit bowl or as is, and they will be devoured. I guarantee.


recipe courtesy: The Best of Taiwanese Cuisine by Karen Hulene Bartell.
no copyright infringement intended.