Food Share: Choco-Caramel Coated Pecans

(Choco-Caramel Coated Pecans)

I have been thinking of making a Choco-caramel coated pecans for a while now and that's just what I did the other night. For this recipe, I used the grafted paper shell pecans because they are big and perfect for handling and coating them individually. Fortunately, we have a pecan grove and we've been picking pecans for days now and we have quite a few stored for baking pies and more pecan dishes. This is really not a step-by-step direction and no accurate measurements for what I did was just a trial and error concoction. So here's what I did.

*** I have probably about 2 cups of grafted paper shell pecans lightly roasted in 2 Tbsp. of butter or more if you like butter so much.

*** Keep an eye when roasting pecans as it could burn easily. Your nose will be able to tell when pecans are roasted and remove from fire. You just want the pecans to brown up a little bit and have that roasted smell and taste to it. Set aside.

*** While the pecans are done roasting, it's time to make the caramel. Since I am no expert in making caramel, I searched online and found this Caramel recipe by Food Network. I followed the steps and I came up with this one in the photo below.

*** Once you have the caramel done, it is time to dip the pecans. Now be careful because the caramel this time is still hot and you don't want your hands to get burn so I used barbecue sticks for picking and dipping the pecans. Let the caramel coated pecans harden on a tray with a parchment paper or wax paper on the bottom for an easy clean up. The paper is just merely for catching the drips and easy clean up so it does not matter what you use.

*** While you are waiting for your caramel coated pecans to harden, it is time to make some chocolate sauce. For the chocolate sauce recipe, you can click here. Aside from the recipe given, in my sauce I added about a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar (I know). I think it adds up more depth to the flavor of the chocolate sauce or maybe it's just my own thing. It's optional so you don't have to do it.

*** Once you have your sauce and the pecans coated with caramels are now hardened, the fun part comes in. Yaye! Time to dip the caramel coated pecans into the chocolate sauce. Oh yes, baby! It is very sinful, but good. Let me tell you, don't even start eating while dipping the pecans because you won't be able to stop eating it. The next thing you know, you have no more pecans left. Let the pecans sit in on a tray again and let the chocolate harden. When hardened, your pecans are ready to munch or give it as a gift especially for Christmas. Enjoy!