Passive Aggressive Nuts

With Valentine's Day quickly approaching, you should make these for your sweetie. They are from Food TV's Ellie Krieger. I think I saw her make these on a Saturday morning, and they quickly became a favorite in the office and at meetings (for those folks deserving of me bringing treats to meetings.) They take no real cooking skill but will gain you big points. And, better, since they are mostly nuts and fruit and just enough dark chocolate to hold everything together, they are as healthy as a snack like this can get. You know, chocolate but with vitamins and minerals too. And, like, three of them have only about 150 calories . . . I seem to recall.

Cherry Almond Clusters

1 Cup toasted almonds, coarsely chopped
1/2 Cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped
6 oz dark chocolate, chopped


Toss the cherries and almonds together.

Melt 1/2 the chocolate over a double boiler. Remove from heat and stir in the rest of the chocolate until melted. Then stir in cherries/almonds. Drop onto parchment or wax paper by tablespoons. Cool until solid and share with your sweetie.

I like to add 1/2 tsp instant espresso or coffee to the chocolate while it's melting. Also, I've never made a single batch . . . I always, at least, double the recipe. Also, the darker the chocolate, the better.