les Mendiants

Inspired by a blog I discovered recently out of New Zealand, and with an invitation to a Girls' Night-In, I put my efforts yesterday afternoon into making les Mendiants, a french confection - pure gourmandise,  At Down Under.  Gorgeous desserts and fantastic photography.  What more could you want when you are in the middle of a boring afternoon.  It is almost like you can put your hand into the picture and have a bite.  That failing, I decided to try a recipe.

The recipe for les Mendiants?  Easy!  Melt 120g dark chocolate, pour into silicone muffin pans, let set a bit, and then delicately place nuts and dried fruits on top.  Throw them into fridge to set further, commend yourself for being awesome, and then just pop them out of the pan.  This is the trick for a fabulous, chic and artistic dessert.   I tried making some with Callebaut white chocolate, and they were amazing as well. Because were were going to be a bunch of American moms drinking wine, I decided that a few chocolate covered pretzels would be a nice complement to les mendiants.

Ina has a recipe for French Chocolate Bark in her Back to Basics book, with dried apricots, dried cranberries, and cashews.  She actually doesn't do this with her bark, but next time I will try adding a teaspoon of instant espresso to the dark chocolate to intensify the flavor.  Ina likes using a combination of semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate.  Will make a note to try that as well.