Chocolate Crackers

Sometimes the strangest food combinations are surprisingly the best. I love the pairing of sweet and salt, but when I first saw saltine crackers in a dessert recipe, I was skeptical.

This is super easy to make, and you can store the ingredients for entertaining emergencies - that is if you can refrain from eating the Van Otis chocolate in advance.




Ingredients
Salted-top saltine crackers - approximately 45-48
8 ounces of Van Otis Dark Chocolate Bark - approximately 30 squares
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup of sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an ungreased cookie sheet with whole saltine crackers. Break crackers to fill in the edges.

Melt one stick of butter in microwave or on stovetop. Stir in sugar. Drizzle butter and sugar mixture onto crackers.

Put cookie sheet into the oven for approximately 5 to 6 minutes.

While the crackers are in the oven, slowly melt Van Otis Dark Chocolate Bark either in the microwave or on the stovetop, being careful not to scorch.

When the butter begins to bubble on the crackers, remove cookie sheet from oven. Pour and spread melted chocolate on top of the butter/sugar mixture. Don’t worry about consistent texture. Crackers may be exposed in some spots.

Allow chocolate to harden and break into pieces. Crackers should be stored in a sealed container, under your bed if you prefer not to share.

Oh, You Shouldn't Have

We’ve accepted a New Year’s Eve party invitation from our creative hosts, mentioned previously in the blog “Warning: This Article May Contain Traces of Nuts.” I politely responded to the invitation with, “Yes, and what can we bring?” At this phase of the holiday celebration marathon, what I really mean is, “Would you like me to bring paper plates?” Instead I elicited the response, “A dessert.”

I’m stumped. Over the past two months, I’ve already frosted, dipped, whipped, baked, and sprinkled every confection in my recipe box. I need to find something that impresses the crowd and de-stresses the cook.

Scanning the Van Otis Chocolates website (http://www.vanotis.com/), I found Mini Desserts. They come in a variety of flavors including, Banana Split, Hazelnut, Cherry Dream, Latte Macchiatto, Pistachio Passion, Orange Spice, and Christmas Spice.

Each handmade dessert looks like an individual work of art. All I need to do is find a festive platter, arrange, throw some flour on my lapel, and look tired and accomplished.

Thinking Outside of the Lunch Box

In 1930, bakery manager James Dewar invented the Twinkie when he decided to make thrifty use of pans that were used for shortcake production only during strawberry season. Twinkies have been a popular lunch box item ever since with sales approximating 500 million each year.

It’s difficult to feel grown-up purchasing a snack marketed by a ridin’, ropin’, cream-filled cowboy, even with the 100 calorie packs. Van Otis Chocolates has added sophistication to this spongy treat simply by dipping it in gourmet chocolate. Chocolate Covered Twinkies are currently selling like hotcakes…er…Twinkies. Culminate your lunch box by treating yourself to Chocolate Dipped Twinkies and Devil Dogs available at Van Otis’ Manchester, New Hampshire retail store.

James Dewar was quoted as saying, "Twinkies was the best darn-tootin' idea I ever had." He might have used stronger language had he tried one dipped in gourmet chocolate.

Chocolate Fountain of Youth

About two years ago, our family purchased a residential-sized chocolate fountain. It seemed a bit indulgent at the time but has become a big hit at friend and family events. It’s not unusual for invitations to request our attendance, as well as our “fifth family member”, the fountain.

At the fountain’s début, I set it up at the kids’ table and prepared a more “sophisticated” dessert for the adults. The kids were in awe. With their little backs facing the adult crowd, we began an unintended game of “red light/green light”. An adult would inch toward the table. A child (now looking more like a short Charlie Chaplin) would sense movement and turn around. The adult would stop and offer “help”. The child would refuse, and the adult would be frozen in their red light spot.

I no longer prepare a second dessert item when the chocolate fountain makes an appearance.

It only took one experience with cheap, big-box store chocolate to realize that quality chocolate is required. Good chocolate yields a beautiful flow or “curtain” that becomes a buffet table centerpiece. It also produces that warm, creamy coating that you’d expect on your dipping item. Chocolate purchased at a store that also sells car batteries, forces the fountain to gurgle and plop the waxy concoction. Waxy is also an accurate taste description. It’s a big disappointment; one we haven’t repeated.

You are guaranteed to impress a crowd at your next event by replacing that frosted cake with a chocolate fountain. Just be sure to establish dipping rules to avoid confrontations. Adults can be very childish when it comes to chocolate.