Dark Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Clusters

Not feeling that great today, but I wanted to catch up on some recipes that I made over the weekend. Building off the success of my peanut bombs, I thought I would make a more adult version with dark chocolate, walnuts and cranberries.

I have to admit I have become quite comfortable with how the crockpots cook and believe that I have a pretty good feel for it. However, I made the error of trying to melt down the chocolate on the high setting rather than low because I wanted to get it to melt faster. I have always been a believer that you never can really mess up a recipe, you just might wind up making something different that you had intended. This is the perfect case of that.

Dark Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Clusters


Ingredients

2 12 ounce bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 16 oz bag of walnut pieces
10 oz of dried cranberries

Pour the walnuts and cranberries into the bottom of the crockpot and use your hands to mix them together. Top with the chocolate chips and set your crockpot to low for 1-2 hours. I am bolding this because I did not follow this advice and while my results were good, I think they would have been better if I had been a little more patient.

Once the chocolate has melted (note even though the chips might not completely melt the will quickly break apart when stirred so don't expect them to fully melt). Spoon the mixture out onto waxed paper and spread out to form a thin layer (about 1/3 inch or so) in the pan. Put into the refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours (I recommend overnight to allow it to fully harden).

Break apart your sheet of chocolate walnuts and cranberries with you hands and put into a bowl or Tupperware.

I am please to say that my office once again enjoyed my results even more than my peanut bombs which surprised me because I thought I had ruined these initially. I also brought a small batch over for some friends of mine who had just gotten a new dog. A "dog warming" gift of sorts. Just goes to show that you can't give on a recipe just because it's not turning out the way you had originally visioned. If you roll with the punches you will do just fine.