almond butter chocolate cups
i've said it before, and i will say again - i do love elana's pantry (www.elanaspantry.com). she comes up with all sorts of crazy things you can make when you're craving something other than veg. and i adore almond butter - i keep buying it to keep in my desk at work, thinking i will just spread a bit on a piece of fruit, or eat a little after lunch. it goes without saying that i invariably end up eating the whole jar with a spoon and feeling sick afterwards.
these little things were genius - like a reese's peanut butter cups which i used to love - but minus the nasty bits. you can sweeten them if you like - elana does and i didn't, and you can use different chocolate. i guess 85% stuff is a bit hardcore but don't make it with less than 75%, i'd say.
i can't tell you how much of what you need because it was all a bit of a guess (i was in the middle of cooking dinner when i thought i'd give this a go). you can look for the original on elana's website, or jump in and hope for the best.
ALMOND BUTTER CHOCOLATE CUPS
about 1/2 jar of almond butter
about 75g chocolate
some vanilla essence (or extract - can never remember which is which but you want the good stuff)
you will also need silicone moulds, which i oiled lightly, and a pastry brush. it will be extremely messy without either of those things.
all you need to do is stir about 1/2tsp of vanilla essence into the nut butter and sweeten with honey if you like.
melt the chocolate in a double boiler, gently, and when it is completely melted, paint the sides of a silicone mould with it. stick it in the fridge or on a cold window sill and leave it to harden. i found i had to repeat this process several times as the effect of gravity was that the chocolate slid off the sides of the mould. it became obvious after the first one that there was no way the whole thing would come out - hence the repainting and leaving it to set process. it doesn't take long so don't worry about it.
next, spoon about a teaspoon of the nut butter inside the hardened chocolate cup. leave it to set a little, then paint the top with the chocolate. this is much easier - you can just drop a bit of melted chocolate on and swirl it around.
stick them in the fridge for a little while, so the whole thing hardens. unmould carefully, proceed to eat several, and forget to take a picture. finally take a photo of the last, misshapen cup once you have eaten all the other ones.
doh.
Yum!!!!!!
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