It’s not really fair to call this a recipe. It’s more like a set of very, very easy instructions to help you make an incredibly quick and slightly fancy dessert. Or a very fancy afternoon snack.
I taught the most delightful cooking class out of our apartment yesterday. The “student” brought her adorable, 3 year old daughter along. We sat her in front of the TV with The Little Mermaid while we cooked, and she occasionally popped into the kitchen to see what we were up to and to have a taste of what we were cooking. I put “student” in quotation marks because that’s not really giving her enough credit. She’s incredibly comfortable in the kitchen and has even taught cooking classes herself in Japan, so I’m not sure that I really “taught” her anything. She saw my scrapelle meal on KitchHike and really wanted to learn how to make it. It felt more like we were cooking together, and I was showing her how to make one of my favorite dishes. And that’s pretty much the best day ever, if you ask me!
Scrapelle are complicated and time-consuming to make. So when they’re part of the meal, I try to make the other courses or accompanying dishes as simple as possible. For dessert, we simply melted high-quality dark chocolate in the microwave, dipped orange segments into it, and sprinkled a touch of flaky sea salt over the sections. It’s a light but decadent dessert. The chocolate is slightly bitter and complements the sweet/tart oranges perfectly. The dusting of sea salt makes the chocolate somehow taste even more chocolatey. They’re bite-sized morsels that burst in your mouth, both literally and figuratively!
These Mandarin oranges with dark chocolate and sea salt were a huge hit with both mom and daughter. The little girl ate at least 8 segments, although she wasn’t terribly impressed by the salt flakes. Ok, if we’re being completely honest, she called them “dust” and picked them off, but her mom and I were big fans!
- 2 mandarin oranges, peeled, wedges separated, and cleaned of any extra rind
- 40 grams (1.4 oz) high-quality dark chocolate
- about 1/2 tablespoon of flakey sea salt, such as Maldon
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Place the chocolate in a clean, very dry microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 20 seconds. Stir and microwave for 10 seconds at a time, stirring between each microwave session, until the chocolate is completely melted. Do not overcook, or you will burn the chocolate! Let cool for 2 minutes.
- Dip the orange segments into the chocolate, covering half of each piece. Set on wax paper and sprinkle with a tiny bit of sea salt. Let chocolate cool completely and harden before eating.
- If you're in a hurry, you can put the wax paper on a plate or baking sheet and put it in the refrigerator for 5-10 minutes to help harden the chocolate more quickly.
One year ago: crunchy peanut butter cups. Homemade candy! Make them all-natural if you like. Bring them to the office and gain new friends (if you’re feeling generous).
Totally obsessed with how delicious these chocolate dipped mandarins look. They definitely a perfect for a guilt free chocolate treat.. thanks for the great recipe!
This would be such a nice treat to have around Christmas!! Love this idea!
I love the Halloween colors in this simple sweet bite! What a fun afternoon – I say you convince your student to invite you over to teach you some of her recipes too! 🙂
Thanks, Sarah! I love the colors. We are going to do a few cooking lesson swaps, I’m super excited.
These are perfectly awesome!! Such a great healthy little treat! 🙂
Thanks, Jocelyn! They are really a lovely snack. And dark chocolate is good for you, right? 😉