October 28, 2024

Best French Candy Recipe: Dark Chocolate Mendiants

Why You Should Give This Recipe a Try

Sometimes you can satisfy your sweet tooth with a quick grocery store candy bar. Other times, you need a more sophisticated sweet treat that will still appease your craving like this Best French Candy Recipe: Dark Chocolate Mendiants. These dark chocolate mendiants are a delicious and sophisticated French candy that is also so easy to make. Disks of dark chocolate are studded with a variety of chopped nuts and dried fruits, mendiants are often sold in little packages in French pastry and chocolate shops nestled among the other delicious French desserts. They are great for treating yourself, but make a fantastic gift as well. Fill a little cellophane bag with a few mendiants and tie it up with a ribbon, or scatter some in your holiday cookie box. Above all, be sure to save a few for yourself!

Some of the best features of this recipe:

There are so many topping possibilities: dried fruit like cranberries or cherries, candied orange peel (think chocolate oranges!), crystalized ginger, chopped walnuts, pecans, or roasted, salted pistachios.

You can change the chocolate and use semisweet, milk chocolate, or white chocolate.

With dark chocolate and a variety or dried fruit and nuts, these mendiants are relatively good for you.

The disks come out round right off the end of the spoon, so no complex technique or weird tools.

As with all of my dishes, Best French Candy Recipe: Dark Chocolate Mendiants has no difficult techniques, special equipment, or hard to find ingredients.

Recipe Ingredients

8 oz 60% cacao chocolate (bittersweet chocolate)

1/2 cup chopped nuts and dried fruits (See Ingredient Notes for suggestions)

Helpful Tools

Microwave safe dish (or a heavy saucepan and heat resistant bowl if using a bain marie)
Silicone spatula
Sharp knife
Cutting board
Tablespoon
Cookie sheet
Parchment paper

Ingredient Notes

You can mix and match the chocolate toppings.

I like to use chopped nuts including slivered almonds, pecans, walnuts, and salted pistachios.

For fruit, chop up dried cranberries, dried cherries, candied orange peel, dried apricots, – basically any dried or preserved fruit that makes sense to you.

You can also use a light sprinkle of sea salt, Maldon salt, or you can go really French and use Fleur de Sel.

It is always a good idea to use the best quality chocolate you can find. I generally use Ghirardelli which works really well.

You may have a bit of fruit and nuts leftover. We generally eat it as a snack or put it on oatmeal.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Prepare the nuts and fruit you will be using, chopping each topping into small pieces. You can mix them together to sprinkle over the chocolate or you can keep them separate to create different combinations.

3. Chop 8 oz of bittersweet chocolate and place in a microwave safe dish. Heat in increments of 30 seconds, stirring in between, until the chocolate is completely melted. As you approach the end of the melting time and only have small pieces left, melt them by stirring. Do not overheat the chocolate as it can scorch.

4. Fill a tablespoon about 3/4 full. Holding the spoon perpendicular to the prepared cookie sheet, allow the chocolate to drop straight onto the parchment paper. You can swirl the spoon slightly to create a perfect circle, although it will generally make a circular shape on its own.

5. Immediately top the melted chocolate, creating one completed disk at a time. Work through until all of the chocolate is gone.

6. Let the completed mendiants sit out at room temperature until firm, at least four hours (will vary based on temperature and humidity). Be sure they are completely firm before removing them from the parchment.

7. Carefully peel the mendiants off of the parchment paper when they are firm.

Storage

Store the firm mendiants in an airtight container at room temperature for about a week. Add a piece of parchment paper between layers of chocolate.

Tips & Tricks

Don’t have a microwave? You can use a bain marie (water bath/double boiler) to melt your chocolate instead. Chop the chocolate and place it in a heat resistant bowl. Bring water to a simmer in a large saucepan. You will need enough water so that the bowl is just above, but not in, the water. Place the bowl over the simmering water, again, without it touching the water. Stir occasionally until completely melted.

FAQs

Can I use other types of chocolate in this recipe?

You can use other types of chocolate in this recipe. Semisweet, milk chocolate, and white chocolate are fine. Adjust the add-ons to match the sweetness of the chocolate you choose.

Can I use fresh fruit in the mendiants?

I don’t recommend using fresh fruit to the mendiants as it will add liquid that will change the consistency. The fruit may also spoil, whereas a mendiant with dried fruit can last for quite some time.

Finished your batch of Best French Candy Recipe: Dark Chocolate Mendiants? Try this recipe for Easy to Make: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles.