Heavenly Chocolate Treats

(Fam­ily Fea­tures) Got loved ones with a pas­sion for choco­late? Show you care by mak­ing heav­enly choco­late treats-which also gives you an excuse to lick the spoon! These irre­sistible treats are made in min­utes, and can dis­ap­pear just as quickly.

Get car­ried away with delight­fully deca­dent choco­late ideas for indulging everyone’s sweet tooth at www.VeryBestBaking.com.

Sea-Salted Smoky Almond Choco­late Bark

Makes 7 serv­ings (about 1/2 pound)

8 ounces NestlÈ Toll House Dark Choco­late Bak­ing Bar, bro­ken into small pieces

1/2 cup smoked-flavored almonds, coarsely chopped, divided

1/8 tea­spoon sea salt (prefer­ably large crystal)

LINE 8-inch bak­ing pan with wax paper.

MICROWAVE small choco­late pieces in small, uncov­ered, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 45 sec­onds; STIR. If pieces retain some of their orig­i­nal shape, microwave at addi­tional 10– to 15-second inter­vals, stir­ring just until melted. Stir in 1/4 cup almonds.

POUR into pre­pared bak­ing pan. Sprin­kle with remain­ing almonds. Tap pan sev­eral times to spread choco­late and set­tle nuts. Sprin­kle with sea salt. Refrig­er­ate for about 1 hour or until firm. Break into pieces. Store in air­tight con­tainer at room temperature.

Nutri­tion Infor­ma­tion per serv­ing: 250 calo­ries; 180 calo­ries from fat; 20g total fat; 8g sat­u­rated fat; 0g trans fat; 0 mg cho­les­terol; 180 mg sodium; 20g car­bo­hy­drate; 5g fiber; 17g sug­ars; 6 g protein

Choco­late Chip Choco­late Clouds

Makes 12 servings

12 pieces NestlÈ Toll House Refrig­er­ated Choco­late Chip Cookie Bar Dough

2 cups (12-ounce pack­age) NestlÈ Toll House Semi-Sweet Choco­late Morsels, divided

1/4 cup milk

1 con­tainer (8 ounces) non-dairy whipped top­ping, thawed, divided

1 tea­spoon vanilla extract

PREHEAT oven to 350∞ F. Place 12 2 1/2-inch foil bake cups on bak­ing sheet with sides. Place 1 piece of cookie dough in each cup.

BAKE for 12 to 14 min­utes or until just baked and light golden brown. Remove cups to wire rack to cool completely.

PLACE 1 1/2 cups morsels and milk in large, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH (100%) power for 1 minute; STIR. Morsels may retain some of their orig­i­nal shape. If nec­es­sary, microwave at addi­tional 10– to 15-second inter­vals, stir­ring just until melted. Cool to room tem­per­a­ture, about 20 minutes.

RESERVE 1/2 cup whipped top­ping; refrig­er­ate. Com­bine remain­ing whipped top­ping and vanilla extract in medium bowl. Gen­tly fold half of the whipped top­ping mix­ture into choco­late mix­ture. Add remain­ing whipped top­ping mix­ture; mix lightly. Spoon over cookie bases in muf­fin cups. Refrig­er­ate for 1 hour.

FOR GARNISH AND TO SERVE:

LINE bak­ing sheet with wax paper.

PLACE remain­ing morsels in small, heavy-duty plas­tic bag. Microwave on HIGH (100%) power for 30 sec­onds; knead. Microwave at addi­tional 10– to 15-second inter­vals, knead­ing until smooth. Cut tiny cor­ner from bag. Driz­zle 12 squig­gly designs about 2– to 3-inches square onto pre­pared bak­ing sheet. Refrig­er­ate until choco­late is firm, 5 to 10 minutes.

TOP each mousse cup with a small dol­lop of reserved whipped top­ping. With tip of knife, gen­tly remove driz­zles from wax paper and insert, stand­ing up into dol­lops. Serve immediately.

Nutri­tion Infor­ma­tion per serv­ing: 280 calo­ries; 140 calo­ries from fat; 15 g total fat; 10 g sat­u­rated fat; 0g trans fat; 10 mg cho­les­terol; 80 mg sodium; 35 g car­bo­hy­drate; 2 g fiber; 26 g sug­ars; 3 g protein

Jenny Harper is Con­sumer Test Kitchen Project Man­ager for the NestlÈ Test Kitchens and VeryBestBaking.com.

Posted by Jenny Harper on Dec 22 2011. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.