Chocolate covered cranberries are insanely easy and nutritious thanks to fresh cranberries, almonds and chocolate. This protein treat is made in 15 minutes with 3 ingredients.
¾cupalmondsuse raw almonds, toast them or not prior to making clusters
Instructions
Prep
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Rinse the fresh cranberries and set aside perhaps overnight to dry. Or use a towel to thoroughly dry so the chocolate doesn't clump up (called seizing).
Optional: Toast the almonds to make them snappy by baking them on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees for ten minutes.
Make Clusters
Add the cranberries and almonds to the a bowl.
1 cup cranberries, ¾ cup almonds
Melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a pyrex measuring cup in a microwave at 60 second intervals.
1 ½ cup chocolate chips, 1 tablespoon coconut oil
Pour the melted chocolate over the cranberries and almonds in the bowl.
Spoon overflowing tablespoons of mixture onto the pan. Use a spoon to scoop and form clusters. Gather 2 tablespoons of mixture per cluster.
Let the chocolate clusters set for 20 minutes on the counter or speed it up by refrigerating for 10 minutes. This chilling will dull them though so if you want them shiny for one day, just let them set at room temperature.
Storage
Store set clusters in an airtight container in the refrigerator for two weeks. For long last storage, put the container in the freezer for three months however the surface will become moist during the thawing process.
Video
Notes
Do not cut the cranberries. The moisture inside could seize or harden the chocolate. After you rinse the cranberries, dry them completely for the same reason.Use whole almonds and retain the skin for fiber. And be sure they are dry, do not rinse prior to using in the recipe. You can roast or not, that's personal preference. Option to Remove Almond Skins: I don't remove the skins from my almonds (called blanching), but they do have a slightly bitter flavor so if you want to here is how. Begin by boiling the nuts for 1 minute only. Bring the water to a boil, toss in nuts and after 1 minute, drain and rinse them in cold water. Then pinch each nut and they will pop out of the skin. This method works especially well with larger nuts such as almonds, but it works with peanuts too. Make sure the skinless almonds are completely dry before adding them to the melted chocolate.Customizations:Fresh cranberries. You can use dried cranberries instead. Since they are shrunken, use 1 ½ cup instead of the 1 cup of fresh cranberries. Also read the label and choose dried cranberries with no added sugar and few additives.Chocolate. You can use white chocolate or milk chocolate, or your favorite dark chocolate. You can also use chocolate chips or chop up a chocolate bar.Almonds. Walnuts or cashews can also be used. You won't need to skin either.