Salted Dark Chocolate Figs

Serendipity is finding the right Pinterest inspiration on a day when you can actually use it.

Every year, instead of Christmas cookies, my family has the tradition of making chocolate-covered candies.

While gathering ingredients and preparing a batch for dipping (read as: procrastinating on Pinterest), I stumbled across a picture of gourmet figs covered in salted dark chocolate. 

Why order a box, when I already had chocolate ready for dipping! 

When dipping fruit or candies in chocolate, it's important to use the proper kind of chocolate. Baking chocolate behaves very differently from melting chocolate, so use a melting chocolate, like Merckens or Wilton.

When heating chocolate, it needs to be warmed gently at low temperatures with indirect heat to prevent burning. A double boiler or an electric fondue pot will do the trick, but you can also melt chocolates easily without buying new gadgets if you have two sauce pots of two different sizes that would fit inside each other. 

The best method is to heat simmering water in the bottom larger sauce pot. Prop the smaller sauce pot filled with chocolate inside the larger pot. If the small pot doesn't fit well, you can place a mason jar canning ring inside the bottom of the larger pot to hold the smaller pot in place. The rising heat from the simmering water will melt the chocolate.

Salted Dark Chocolate Figs

Dozen dried figs, halved

2 cups dark melting chocolate wafers

1 - 3 tsp sea salt

1 - 2 tsp vegetable oil (optional)

1. Melt chocolate wafers in a double boiler on low.

2. Once the chocolate has melted, check the viscosity by stirring and drizzling the chocolate with your spatula. If the chocolate is too thick to smoothly coat the figs, add a small drizzle of vegetable oil.

3. Dip figs into the chocolate and set them on wax paper.

4. Sprinkle a dash of sea salt over the dark chocolate and allow the candies to chill.

Enjoy! Salted dark chocolate figs are chewy and sweet, like chocolate-covered raisins, but the salt really adds a richness and depth to the flavor. Chocolate figs are a delicious and high fiber snack, so you can almost argue that they're healthy like Fig Newtons...right?

Rate of Difficulty: 1 out of 5. Dipping fruit in chocolate is nice and easy with the right kind of chocolate. You don't need to buy any special equipment to start making chocolates, so you'll be able to start right away dipping everything in your sight.

Go ahead! Run to your cupboard and grab something and dip it and see what happens! If you have the option to dip chocolate in chocolate, then that is, of course, always the correct choice to make.

What fruit or snack would you like dipped in chocolate? I'd love to hear your favorite and daring ideas!

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