Dark-chocolate-covered Coffee Beans

Cook time:20 min
==Description==
Basic directions for making a small amount of chocolate covered coffee beans from ingredients. Can either be made with sugar or an alternative sweetener.
The coffee beans can be the standard sort you would grind to make coffee to drink from. Ideally, you should select a grocer that offers a variety of different types of beans by the pound and will permit you to sample the taste of different beans to select the one that you like the best. Select carefully; french roast beans may be too bitter to be suitable but beans for making flavored coffees may be well-suited to making candy.
==Ingredients==
* 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
* one sixth (⅙) of a pound of coffee beans
* 4 teaspoons sugar (or, if for example using a stevia or other sweetener mixture that is four times as sweet as sugar, 1 teaspoon of sweetener)
* dash of salt
==Directions==
# Melt chocolate on a low temperature in a double boiler or by another suitable method. (Note that using an unsuitable method for melting the chocolate may result in burning it, adversely affecting the flavor of the product.)
# Sprinkle the sugar or sweetener and dash of salt over the melted chocolate. Mix with a whisk. Allow several minutes to dissolve. Sample mixture and add more sweetener to your taste.
# Add coffee beans to the melted chocolate and mix with spoon until beans are thoroughly coated.
# Take a smooth surface like a metal baking sheet or ceramic cutting board and grease with a thin layer of oil. Spread chocolate and bean mixture over surface and cool in refrigerator or freezer.
==Notes==
Chocolate can absorb odors and flavors from other foods in a refrigerator, so if the outdoor temperature is low enough it may be more appropriate to cool the beans outdoors.
It is possible to melt the chocolate in a single saucepan rather than a double boiler but with this approach you must use a very low temperature setting and melt it very slowly to avoid burning. (Actually, something like a cast iron pan with a high thermal mass might be a better choice than a steel or aluminum pan in that case.)
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Category:Recipes designed using a sugar substitute
Category:Unsweetened chocolate Recipes
Category:Coffee Recipes
Category:Snack Recipes