Choc-Caramel Bites

When I was little we would spend our holidays visiting my Grandparents. This meant Grandmas sponges for afternoon tea, playing 'crocodile' in the front yard with the neighboring kids and going to church on a Sunday.

Church with the grandparents was where I taught my younger cousins to poke out their tounges and developed knowledge of bribery. If we were well behaved Grandad would stop off at the shops on the way home and get us a chocolate frog or caremello koala. This was well worth the badly sung hymns!

Whilst not snapped Iike a koala, these Choc-caramel bites do taste like them. A Crisp Chocolate shell with a gooey caramel centre... so decadent! There's no reason you couldnt do these in shaped chocolate or Easter egg moulds; the process would simply be different.

CHOC-CARAMEL BITES

INGREDIENTS

Caramel 

1 can coconut cream

1/2 cup Maple Syrup 

dash of salt

2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract

Chocolate

1/4 Cup Coconut Oil

1/4 Cup Cocoa

1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup

INSTRUCTIONS

Caramel 

Pour coconut cream into a heavy based saucepan. Add maple syrup and salt.

Bring mixture to the boil over a medium/high heat.

When bubbling, reduce to a medium heat and simmer for approximatly 25 minutes.

Whisk very regularly.

Add the vanilla and whisk in.

The caramel will turn a dark golden.

Place caramel in fridge over night (or freezer for a shorter duration) to allow it to thicken (not required when using shaped chocolate moulds)

Chocolate

Place Coconut oil in a heavy based saucepan and melt over a very low heat.

Add the maple syrup and whisk til combined,

Add the cocoa and whisk til combined.

Pour into a lined tray/container and freeze until set (at least 1 hour).

CONSTRUCTION

Bites

Melt Chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water (double boiler technique).

Allow Chcoclate to cool slightly (but not set).

Take 1-2 teaspoons of thickened,cold caramel and roll into a small ball.

Drop ball into melted chocolate and stir to coat.

Place ball on baking paper and set in freezer.

(if you like thick chocolate around your caramel then dip again once first layer is set).

Keep cold until serving.

Shapes 

Using chocolate moulds, silicone shapes etc coat the moulds with melted chocolate (using double boile technique) and freeze til set. Fill set mould with runny (but not hot) caramel (the caramel nay need to be plad over a low heat to thinnit out) and freeze again. Once caramel has set either coat the caramel with Chcoclate or join 2 moulds together using melted chocolate to create a 3D shape (eg Easter egg).