Can chocolate be addictive? Experts disagree, but if you bite into this recipe from Pike Place Market's,Confectional, you may be a hooked in a good way. Jean Enersen shares healthier versions of holiday treats, including the Confectional's "Holiday Holy Crack" recipe.
The Confectional's Holiday Holy Crack Recipe
Ingredients:
4 cups melted dark chocolate (high-quality like Calebaut or Guittard)
1/2 cup pistachios (chopped coarsely)
1 cup peanuts (chopped coarsely)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 cup high-quality instant espresso
1 cup melted white chocolate (or colored chocolate)
3/4 teaspoon Fleur de Sel (or other coarse sea salt)
Instructions:
Melt your high-quality dark chocolate over a double-boiler. If you need to use a microwave, just melt it in a glass pyrex container by doing 30-second bursts, stirring between each round until melted.
Using a small whisk add the dry instant espresso straight into the chocolate and mix thoroughly. Then add the cinnamon and ground cloves and blend thoroughly again. There will be tiny lumps and it will thicken the chocolate a little bit, this is correct.
On a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper pour out about 1/3 to 1/2 of the chocolate mixture. Spread to about an inch of the paper edge using a pastry scraper or a rubber spatula. Try to get a thin coat.
Mix your chopped pistachios and peanuts together and sprinkle about 2/3 of them evenly over the sheet of chocolate mixture.
Pour the remaining chocolate mixture over the nuts and first layer of chocolate mixture and work in to cover the nuts. Again, try to get it out to the edge of the first layer and work to make it thin and even. You'll get a better crack the thinner you can get the chocolate.
