Recipes, SpringVanessa Gerbrandymendiants, dried fruit, dark chocolate, edible gifts, easter, nutsComment

Luxurious Little Mendiants

Recipes, SpringVanessa Gerbrandymendiants, dried fruit, dark chocolate, edible gifts, easter, nutsComment
Luxurious Little Mendiants

It's been far too long since I've shared a recipe. Apologies for the teasing on instagram of all the deliciousness we've been cooking together. It's been a rather whirlwind of a school term and I'm glad to finally have some time to write up what we've been cooking together. 

We're spending our Easter holiday at my parents enjoying the season of spring and all the joys it brings with it. The girls love it here, collecting the chickens eggs, playing with the baby lambs and making pancakes for breakfast every single morning! 

One little treat we've made for our holidays are these delicious mendiants. A french tradition  made at Christmas time, we gave them as treats to the teachers as a Christmas gift but we love them so much we wanted to find a reason how we can eat them for Easter too. We changed out some of the wintery dried fruits we used at Christmas time for more delicate flavours such as coconut flakes and decided to make a springtime platter with them.  We placed them on our Easter bunny board and decorated them with pink blossoms from our garden.

I find preparing all of the ingredients in small bowls beforehand makes this recipe so much more delightful to do with children. They love seeing all of the edible jewels laid out on the table and choosing what to put on their mendiants makes it so fun for them. 

To make the Little Mendiants :-

Ingredients 

  • 200 g dark chocolate chips 
  • Dried Fruit (we used cranberries, candied orange peel, golden raisins, chopped dried apricots and goji berries and for the Easter mendients we added coconut flakes)
  • Nuts & Seeds (we used pistachios, hazlenuts and pumpkin seeds)

Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Melt the chocolate chips in a bain-marie. (Here's where an adult must supervise so to be careful for the steam not to burn). Once the chocolate is melted drop one tablespoon of chocolate onto the greaseproof paper and use the spoon to form a circle (about 2 inches wide). Repeat the process until all of the chocolate is used. 

Once the chocolate is melted drop one tablespoon of chocolate onto the greaseproof paper and use the spoon to form a circle (about 2 inches wide). Repeat the process until all of the chocolate is used. 

Decorate each chocolate disc with the dried fruit and nuts. It's fun to make each disc slightly different so choosing one becomes more difficult! Your fingers may also get dipped in chocolate at this point - don't worry about that! 

Once all of the discs contain fruit and nuts, allow the chocolates to set for about 30 minutes before removing them from the paper. Arrange on a pretty plate or in a wonderful shape to celebrate the season.

Have a wonderful Easter break! 

Vanessa x