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Pecan and caramel Clusters




Source of Recipe


Meryl


Recipe Introduction


Meryl's notes: I make various chocolate clusters often, usually with milk chocolate (Dove), and sometimes with semi-sweet (Ghirardelli). I simply melt the chocolate and drop in roasted peanuts or almonds, stir, then drop onto parchment or foil-lined pans, and chill to set.
These chocolate caramel clusters are fantastic. I make them with both peanuts and pecans, and I double the amount of chocolate. Also I keep the heat at 240 F for the caramel (the recipe says to go to 245 F in the second step, but it gets too hard, so I keep it at 240 and it’s perfect):


List of Ingredients






1 cup pecan halves
1 cup sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup (I used light)
1 cup butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream
6 oz. milk chocolate baking bars, melted (I used 12 oz Dove)



Recipe





Line a baking sheet with waxed paper.

Cut the pecans in half lengthwise and arrange to form small circles (about 1 1/2″ in diameter).

Cook the sugar, dark corn syrup, butter and 1/2 cup of cream in a saucepan. Stir occasionally over low heat, until the sugar has dissolved. Increase heat to medium and stir continuously until the temperature reaches 240°F (NOTE: This may take 15-20 min).

Remove the pan from heat and stir in the remaining cream. Heat again and stir continuously until the temperature reaches 245°F.

Pour the caramel mixture into a 9″ pan lined with foil and let it cool approximately 2 minutes. Spoon caramel mixture over each pecan circle.

Melt chocolate according to the melting instructions for your chocolate. Spread melted chocolate over each cluster. Chill 10 minutes, then let stand at room temperature until the chocolate is firm.

Store tightly covered at room temperature. (I kept it chilled).

Yields 24 pieces

From Ghirardelli Pecan and Caramel Chocolate Clusters recipe inside the Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Baking Bar wrapper
http://cookingontheside.com/homemade-candy-week-pecan-caramel-chocolate-clusters/