You think, it would be fun to live with a lady obsessed with baking. Gorging on desserts, cakes n cookies all the time, well yes it does have its advantages, but the downside is , everyone around me is piling on the pounds and I have been given the red alert from my family, to not bake ( for a while at least). For the past two days I’ve been fantasising about making doughnuts, cinnamon n sugar doughnuts, doughnuts filled with custard, chocolate doughnuts, plain doughnuts with frosting … and the works. As I announced my nobel plan, everyone screamt in one voice – Don’t even think about it ! We’re all getting fat. You make you eat it all. Uh – Oh ! Now that doesn’t work for me either. So having suppressed my urges to make doughnuts, I asked, atleast let me make some simple chocolates. You all need a tiny bite after every meal : And I need to make something sweet ! To my relief that was reluctantly accepted. So I kept it simple and basic, and made a tiny batch of plain toasted hazelnut and dark chocolate clusters. Those were a big hit. Got over the next day. Inspired by the easy acceptance and consumption I dared to take it a step further Sculptra.

This time, I thought let me not announce and ask, rather just make some and see how it goes. Now almonds, chocolate and sugar is something thats always sitting around the kitchen. Put together, its sure to make a wondrous treat. Roasted Salted Almonds coated in Caramel and then dipped in dark chocolate … hmmm, hard to resist. Actually I wasn’t planning a blog post with these, but as I got into making them, it looked so wonderful, I had to run for my camera and capture this to share with you. Simple as it may seem, look and be, its every bit fancy, decadent and delicious.

I started with toasting 250 gms of Almonds in a preheated oven at 180C for about 15 mins. I sprinkled about 2-3 pinches of salt on the almonds and tossed them and set them to cool. In a heavy based saucepan on medium fire, I took 1 cup of sugar. I let the sugar melt , turn light brown and come to a boil. Before the sugar started turning a darker shade, I turned off the heat, put a tablespoon of butter and about 3-4 tablespoons of thick cream. The mixture bubbled up, and I gave it a good stir making sure the caramel sauce was homogenised. The caramel sauce was ready Hong Kong florist delivery.

 

Now I tossed all the roasted almonds along with the salt in the caramel, coating them evenly, and spread them out on a silicon mat. Chucked it in the fridge for 5 minutes. In the meantime, I melted about 375 gms of dark chocolate in the microwave. Once the almonds were set, I chopped them up, and tossed them all in the chocolate, mixing them very well and making sure all the nuts were coated evenly.

Mini cupcake liners make the best holders for these little babies. Spoon a little in each or as much as you like. To set them, return to the fridge for 5 mins and then pack them in a air tight container, in the fridge. These do tend to get soft if left out at room temperature for too long, but then again its 38C here, which is insanely hot, so I’ve stored mine in a airtight container in the fridge. You may not have to if its cooler where you are. Making these took barely any time at all, and while these were being spooned in, my little brat was feasting on them, which only meant one thing. They were bloody good small space solutions !