Chocolate Almond Drops Food

DARK CHOCOLATE ALMOND ROCKS

Steps:

• Spread almonds in a large skillet; toast over medium heat until starting to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Pour almonds into a bowl.
• Melt chocolate in top of a double boiler over simmering water, stirring frequently and scraping down the sides to avoid scorching, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; pour in almonds and stir until evenly coated.
• Drop spoonfuls of chocolate-almond mixture onto a plate lined with waxed paper.
• Chill until set, about 10 minutes.

CHOCOLATE ALMOND DROPS

Steps:

• In a heavy saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate chips with milk, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Stir in granola and almonds. Refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about 1 hour., Shape mixture into 1-in. balls; roll in miniature chocolate chips. Refrigerate, covered, until firm, about 2 hours. Store in refrigerator.

CHOCOLATE ALMOND BARK

Steps:

• Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside. Put chopped almonds In a skillet. Cook, stirring often over medium high heat, until golden brown. Remove from heat.
• In a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt chocolate chips and shortening until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 the toasted almonds. Spread onto the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle with remaining almonds, and chill 30 minutes, or until solid. Break into bite-size pieces to serve.

ALMOND DROPS

Steps:

• Place the almond paste, corn syrup and apricot puree in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle. Turn on the mixer to medium speed and add about 1 egg white, continue adding egg white gradually until the mixture can be piped through a piping bag. You will need to adjust the amount of egg whites added to the mixture depending on the consistency of the almond paste. Place the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe the mixture onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Use any design you like when you are piping the mixture. You can place whole almonds on top of some to achieve a different design.
• Preheat the oven to 380 degrees F and bake for 8 to10 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
• Place the sugar, honey and water in a saucepan and bring to a strong boil. Place the almonds in the food processor and grind until coarse. Remove the boiling sugar from the heat and pour over the coarse almonds. Blend until smooth. This may take 10 minutes or more, depending on the strength of the food processor. Remember, food processors are not usually strong enough to yield the same consistency as the almond paste that you can buy. If your mixture is too thick and the food processor is straining, you can add a little Kirsch or simple syrup to the processor. Add the liquid slowly and stop when the processor is moving more freely. The quality of almond paste is determined by how smooth the consistency is.
• Wrap the almond paste in plastic wrap and allow it to cool. When you are ready to use it, knead in the butter. The butter makes it smooth and not so sticky.
• Yield: About 2 cups

CHOCOLATE ALMOND VELVET

Steps:

• Combine chocolate syrup, cream, condensed milk and vanilla. Chill in fridge for 1 hour.
• Whip until fluffy mixture forms soft peaks.
• Update: The original recipe said to serve the velvet cream in muffin cups. There is enough velvet to make up 24+ muffin cups, but it ends up melting too fast.
• My recommendations is to either serve this in small ramekin dishes or to place the whole recipe in a large container and serve it up like ice cream.
• I left the nuts in the recipe, but they tend to drop to the bottom of the dish. So you can add some nuts to the bottom of each dish and add the velvet on top. Unless you are a big fan of Almond Roca -- adding this is a wonderful combination, but it brings the expense of the dish up way too high (over $10.00).
• This makes up A LOT. You may want to consider cutting the recipe in half. With a weight scale measure out the ingredients and proceed from there.
• As the velvet does not freeze completely solid, serve immediately, as it melts quickly.