Chocolate Dipped Pears
Can chocolate possibly be good for you? YES. A resounding yes.
Here’s what you have to remember, though:
You need to eat GOOD Chocolate. That means DARK chocolate that is 72 percent cacao or higher. Good news is the number is front and center now on many packaged chocolate bars.
You need to eat it in moderation. You don’t buy one of those big bars and chow it down. You must limit yourself to three ounces or less per day. That might be as little as three of those little squares. So eat it slowly and enjoy it.
Here are a host of medically-backed reasons to enjoy chocolate...
Read the full column at PlanZDiet.com
Chocolate Dipped Pears
I can see serving this at a dinner party.
You need a little forward planning with this, so your pears can be ripe on the day you want to make this. Usually two or three days ahead will yield you a juicy dessert. Good news is in about 10 minutes you have dessert completed.
Servings: Serves 6
Ingredients:
6 ripe pears, medium size. I used Bartlet green/yellow but you could use red or most other pears. The only one I would not recommend is Bosc but just because I would not think it would be very pretty when finished.
8 oz. dark chocolate (70-78% cacao), melted. You’ll have chocolate left over when this is complete, but you need to have a deep enough pool of chocolate to cover the pears. Just make a chocolate sauce/ganache out of the rest and you can serve that over almond pound cake. (insert links to pound cake and ganache)
4-5 oz. salted nuts, chopped. I recommend peanuts, almonds, macadamia nuts or pecans. Chop them pretty finely or the pears won’t pick them up and they will topple. (I know, it happened to me)
Instructions:
To melt chocolate, I use a double boiler. I still think that works best without scorching the chocolate. Some people are aces at melting it in a microwave.
Place melted chocolate in one bowl and the chopped nuts in a second bowl.
These bowls should be fairly small and on the deep side.
Dip room temperature pears in chocolate then in nuts. Place dipped pears on a cooling rack to set or you can place them on a piece of waxed paper or parchment paper.
I’d store them at room temperature until you serve them on day 1. The chocolate will firm back up and form a coating on the pears.
Pears and chocolate go great together. Who needs a candy apple! I served with a steak knife for cutting top to bottom, and a fork.
Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola
