Choco-LOT!

Did you ever see the movie "Chocolat" with J. Depp? He was the eye-candy. The star of the story was actually chocolate. Luscious, velvety, soul-satsifying chocolate. The drool starts just thinking about it. It was a good story, too, chocolate aside.


Anyway - when you put this...

and this...

in the same vacinity as Anne and Matt in a kitchen, you get...

these!! Chocolate-dipped Walnut Caramels with Sea Salt Flakes. Whoa nelly.

I can't even begin to describe how yummy these little sabateurs are! First the dark rich chocolate spiked with salt hits the appropriate taste buds. As the chocolate melts and swims in your mouth, the medium-soft caramel is released. Butter. Vanilla. Molten goodness with tiny bits of walnuts gathering for a bit of warm crunchy texture. I'm telling you, one of these in your mouth is like being on a week-long honeymoon.

Anne has perfected Grandpa Griffin's caramel recipe. She has the right pan, the right temperature, timed the cooking to the precise minute - yep, perfection. Then she stirs finely chopped walnuts into the buttery golden smooth caramel before pouring the vanilla-richened mass into a 9x13 glass pan. The firmed cooled caramel is then cut into squares and refrigerated to prepare for the next step: a nice bath in carefully tempered chocolate. Once the caramels are dipped out and placed on the waxed paper, Matt quickly and delicately adds a few grains of flaked sea salt to each one. The confections are then returned to the refridgerator for the chocolate to set.

A batch of these went to the Thanksgiving dinner. Brother Terry professed he wasn't interested in those new-fangled things, that there was nothing wrong with Dad's plain 'ol caramels like we always make - and he's absolutely correct about that. But. We finally persuaded him to try one. Hmmm. That's not bad. It wasn't long before we saw him quietly walk by the dessert buffet and nab another Chocolate-dipped Walnut Caramel with Sea Salt Flakes.

Old dogs are definately open to new tricks. And new addictions. Chocolate and the right caramel can do that to you.