Healthy Treats: Dark Chocolate-Dipped Figs with Raspberry

Dried figs and chocolate are a naturally sweet pairing. But instead of using plain dark chocolate to dip figs in, why not use a flavoured chocolate?

Simply melt and temper two 100 gram bars of dark chocolate with raspberries, coconut or other flavours of your choice.  I melted together one organic and fair trade raspberry dark chocolate bar and one coconut dark chocolate bar (both Canadian Camino brand by La Siembra Co-operative), along with 1/8 cup of cocoa butter (you can buy this at a health food store, or from a chocolate/ingredient supplier like VanillaFoodCompany.ca).

You don't need to add the cocoa butter, but it certainly helps when dipping your figs in chocolate, and you will get a beautiful shine. For any amount of chocolate that you melt, simply add 10% of the weight of your chocolate in cocoa butter before melting the chocolate. Then be sure to temper it correctly and test the chocolate on a small piece of waxed paper before dipping anything in it. Place a little on the waxed paper, and let it set (harden), then if there are no streaks of white cocoa butter in the chocolate, it is ready to use.

Dip figs gently with a fork, tap off any excess on the side of your bowl, and set them on waxed paper. Sprinkle shredded coconut on top while it is still wet for added effect, or place a fresh raspberry if you are eating within 1-2 days.

To learn how to temper chocolate, click this link.