Happy National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day!

National Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds Day is celebrated on November 7th each year. Even the staff at “National Whatever Day” were unable to discover the origins of this holiday! But as we know, bittersweet chocolate is a sweetened form of dark chocolate that does not contain milk in either liquid or dry form. Bittersweet chocolate is essentially a mixture of chocolate liquor, sugar, cocoa butter, and sometimes vanilla. Yum! And the almond is the edible seed of the almond tree grown primarily in the Middle East. Almonds are known to have health benefits including relief from constipation, respiratory disorders, cough, hear disorders, anemia, impotency, and diabetes.

With both Bittersweet Chocolate and Almonds having health benefits do you need any other reason to indulge in a little Bittersweet Chocolate with Almonds on November 7th?

The Best of the Best Bittersweet Chocolate with Almond Bars

French chocolate maker Valrhona combines their 55% bittersweet chocolate with roasted almonds and hazelnuts.

http://www.valrhona-chocolate.com/dried-fruits.html

Chocolove combines dry roasted almonds and sea salt in their delicious 55% bittersweet chocolate.

http://www.chocolove.com/almondsseasalt.htm

Godiva mixes crushed roasted almonds with a 72% bittersweet chocolate.

http://www.nutsonline.com/chocolatessweets/chocolate-bars/godiva-almonds.html

Coating almonds with his signature burnt caramel syrup, Michael Recchuiti uses a semisweet chocolate as the perfect foil.

http://www.recchiuti.com/605.html?area=06

Credited by many as the mother of the artisan chocolate movement in the U.S. adds roasted almonds to soft caramel and envelopes the delicious combo in dark Belgian chocolate.

https://www.franschocolates.com/store/home.php?cat=21

This bar combines a 54% single origin African chocolate with freshly roasted almonds.

http://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/dark-chocolate-almond-bar.html

Artisan chocolatier Beth Tully takes combines super foods blueberries, almonds and 70% bittersweet chocolate to create the Super Bar.

http://www.cocoadolce.com/shop.php?&c=Bars&s=70^%20Bittersweet&p=70^%20Bittersweet%20Super%20Bar

And How About Do-it-Yourself?

Want to make your own treat to celebrate the holiday? From David Lebovitz’s Room for Dessert, here is a simple recipe which will let you indulge in this perfect combination at home!

Chocolate Almond Nut Jobs

Ingredients

3/4 cup almonds

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Toast the almonds in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until they are lightly browned. Allow them to cool completely, and then chop them coarsely.

Break up the chocolate and melt it in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Make sure that the bowl you melt the chocolate in is completely dry; if there’s even a drop of water, the chocolate will “seize”—become stiff and granular—and it will be unusable.

Once the chocolate has melted, take the bowl off the heat and stir in the chopped nuts, completely coating them with chocolate.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment or plastic wrap. Scoop out heaping teaspoons of the chocolate-nut mixture onto the sheet pan. When done, refrigerate until ready to eat.

Note: By refrigerating the candies and serving them cold, you avoid having to temper the chocolate. Candies made with untempered chocolate and left at room temperature eventually develop white streaks from the gradual separation of cocoa butter out of the chocolate.

photo courtesy of sandercandy.com