I love dipped stuff. Soon I’ll make more grown up chocolates – and dipped dried fruits and nuts, but oh, there is nothing like a chocolate covered Oreo, potato chip, pretzel, marshmallow or graham cracker… I love it all. So do my kids, their friends and my friends and anyone who came over last week. Conor happily took a bag home and Jodi and Mike loved their goodies. Temper your chocolates (follow directions in the Halloween Peeps post) and go to town. Look to the bottom of this post for a photo of untempered chocolate. The sweet and salty thing is addictive and delicious. My personal favorite is crunched up pretzels with white chocolate and dried tart cherries. Wow. I decided to sprinkle half with Valentine hearts and colors for an idea for Valentines day and left some plain just for munching. This chocolate (if tempered) will keep in an airtight container for a while (well, the potato chips kind of loose their crunch). So
make ahead and let everyone know that you love them! Enjoy-
chocolate dipped goodies (kid style):
tempered: white, milk, semisweet and/or bittersweet chocolate (there are some great tempering videos out there – just google it and if you love dipping then invest in a tempering machine.)
things to dip –
marshmallows (big and mini)
kettle corn
crunched pretzel pieces, flat pretzels, pretzel rods, pretzels thin
Oreos (whole or crunched)
potato chips (I like Cape Cod)
dried fruits
graham crackers whole or smooshed
cocoa nibs (my new favorite!)
m & m’s
mini chocolate chips
I think you can figure most of this out. But just in case, prepare a few sheet pans lined with parchment.
Oreos – if you have a mold you can cover them using it. If not, simply dip them in the tempered chocolate. Alternately, crunch them up and pour chocolate over them, mixing all together. Scoop out little spoonfuls onto the parchment, or into cupcake liners. Top with m&m’s if you choose or chocolate shavings or drizzle.
Graham crackers – individually dip – then add on m&m’s, or cocoa nibs, or really anything. Alternatively, smash them up and combine with chocolate and mini marshmallows and plop little spoonful down on parchment or again, in a cupcake liner.
Pretzels – dip the whole pretzel in the chocolate. Leave as is, or coat chocolate with mini m&m’s or mini chips and let set. You can also smash up the pretzels into bits, add dried cherries and pour chocolate over (esp good with white chocolate) – and drop by spoonful onto parchment (or into cupcake liners).
Cocoa nibs – I love love these. I loved them simply mixed with white chocolate and then poured into mini cupcake liners. Alternatively, add to dipped grahams or marshmallows for added texture and flavor.
Marshmallows – simply dip big ones 3/4’s way down into chocolate. turn upright to set and top with a treat if you choose (m&m’s, mini chips, cocoa nibs). As mentioned above, combine mini marshmallows, graham crumbs and chocolate and place by spoonful onto parchment.
Kettle Corn – spread some kettle corn on parchment and drizzle chocolate over it. Delicious!
Potato chips – dip and place on parchment to set.
If you do not temper the chocolate, it will take many hours to set – and even when set it will feel tacky and slimy. The chocolate will streak and not have a good snap or bite. The chocolate is not as viscous and is heavier to work with. If you look carefully at the photo to the left and below, you’ll see streaks and spots on the chocolates. Hopefully you can also see that the chocolates have a duller appearance than their tempered counterparts and just look pretty unappealing. No one ate these!
