Holiday Baking #29: Dark Chocolate Pomegranate Clusters

When I told Lara about this simple recipe that has become the hit of our holiday season, she asked me to hurry and get it posted before the New Year! These are simple to put together and pack a huge wow factor. The crunch of the chocolate pairs so well with the explosion of pomegranate juice in your mouth – we just couldn’t get enough of them. We also enjoyed taking them to a party and watching people’s faces when they took a bite and were surprised to discover that these were not chocolate covered peanuts! It was pretty funny :)
  
Click here for printable recipe. 

Ingredients:
1 bag Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate
1-2 Pomegranates
1-2 Tbsp. Canola Oil

Directions:
Deseed your pomegranates. Did you know each juicy little seed is called an aril? If you’ve never done it before, here’s a little instruction: In order to keep the most arils intact, slice off the top, then score the skin along the divisions you see from the top. Don’t cut as deeply as I did below – that was too much. Then pull the sections apart and very gently break the arils free. While you’re doing this, feel free to marvel at God’s creations as I do each time.

(Or if you don't mind spending a little more money, then try this super easy alternative to deseeding your own pomegranate.  Fresh pomegranate arils, also found in the produce section.  I don't know if there are other brands, but Pom Wonderful arils are almost as fresh and lovely  as if you'd just barely deseeded your own fresh pomegranate. )

You won’t want to introduce any liquid other than the oil into your chocolate, so keep the cut and broken and bruised arils separate from the perfect, fully-contained ones. We’ll only use the perfect ones for this recipe. Once you have them all out, spread them out on a paper towel, and gently roll them around with your fingers to absorb some of the moisture. Change the paper towel a couple of times and allow the arils to sit on the paper towel in a single layer for a while until the juice on the outside has dried.

Melt the chocolate according to the directions the back of the bag, using either the microwave or a double boiler on the stove. Add a tablespoon or two of oil during the melting process. It’s ready when the chocolate is smooth, but not yet warm. 

Working in small batches, combine a little chocolate and some pomegranate arils, so it looks like the picture below.

Drop by teaspoonful onto a cookie sheet covered with wax paper or parchment. Refrigerate until the chocolate has set. These are best eaten within two or three days. After that, the pomegranate arils will start seeping and they'll ruin the chocolate.

Enjoy!

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