While experimenting with various candy centers for the Amish Recipes: Chocolate-Covered Candy candy book, some melted chocolate was occasionally left over. If enough to do so, peanuts were stirred into the leftover chocolate.
Delicious Experiment
At the end of one particular chocolate-covered candy experiment, sunflower seed kernels were stirred into the left-over chocolate instead of peanuts — spur of the moment to see what the result would be.
They were dropped on a wax paper-lined plate and let dry.
Oh, my, the result was heavenly delicious.
I hadn't measured the amount of left-over chocolate nor the amount of kernels — there was some chocolate left and I poured some kernels in — so I had only a guesstimate about what the proportions were.
Sweet Testing
Therefore, I had the sweet job of doing some more experimenting to see what the best proportions were. Experimenting is good, not only to get something as close to perfection as possible, but also, and especially, when I have to taste the experiments myself.
There were several tries before an optimum chocolate-to-kernels proportion was discovered. It did, indeed, approached perfection.
Yes, I think you'll like it very much.
Chocolate Sunflower Seed Clusters Recipe
Here is the recipe.
Chocolate Sunflower Seed Clusters
1 cup (6 ounces by weight) semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons sunflower seed kernels, roasted and unsalted
Prepare a plate or baking sheet with wax paper liner to receive the clusters.
In a bowl of sufficient size, melt the chocolate. See The Microwave Method to Melt Chocolate for Dipping for step-by-step instructions.
Pour the kernels into the melted chocolate.
Stir the kernels into the chocolate.
Spoon the mixture onto the wax paper-lined plate or baking sheet. Separate each spoonful enough so the clusters don't settle into each other.
You may use a teaspoon, tablespoon, or other utensil to transfer the mixture to the wax paper. The utensil choice depends on how large or small you want the clusters to be.
When the mixture has all been transferred to the wax paper lined plate or baking sheet, let the chocolate dry for at least 8 hours in a low humidity location, preferably also cool. Non-ideal conditions may require 24 hours. After a couple hours, paper towels may be laid on the drying clusters to keep out any dust.
Note: Do not place chocolate clusters in the refrigerator to dry. Refrigerators tend to have high humidity.
Sometimes spur-of-the-moment experiments end up simply wonderful. This was one of those times.
