Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup toasted cashews (about 5 ounces)
- 3 ounces semisweet or bittersweet dark chocolate, a generous ½ cup roughly chopped
- 1 Tablespoon matcha powder
Garnish:
- Maldon sea salt (optional)
Instructions
- Place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl.
- You will be microwaving in short increments, stirring in between.
- The exact amount of time the chocolate needs to be in the microwave will depend on your particular microwave. I do it for two minutes at 50% (half) power, stir with a whisk and then microwave again for another minute at 50% power. Stir again.
- The chocolate in the bowl will not look melted but as you stir, the heat from the bowl will continue melting the chocolate.
- Mix until the chocolate is completely smooth. Add another 30 seconds to a minute if you still have some unmelted chocolate. Always stir in between bursts in the microwave.
- If you have a candy thermometer (recommended), check to see that the temperature is 90 F (for dark, semisweet, and bittersweet chocolate) or 86 F (for milk and white chocolate). If not, dip a small spoon into the chocolate and put it on your hand. It should feel slightly warm, not hot.
- Wait until the chocolate cools slightly before using it.
- Add the cashews to the chocolate and mix to coat each nut. Place the nuts one at a time (or scoop them with a small spoon if you prefer making clusters) on a piece of parchment paper and let harden at room temperature for an hour or two.
- Once the chocolate has hardened, place the cashews in a small storage container and top with the matcha powder.
- Shake the nuts so that the matcha powder coats each nut evenly.
- Eat immediately, sprinkled with a little sea salt or store the Matcha Chocolate Cashews in the container until ready to consume.
Notes
*For this method to work, you MUST start with already tempered chocolate. You can use chocolate disks, which are made specifically for melting or blocks of tempered chocolate which can be chopped into small pieces. Do not use chocolate chips which will not melt. I used semi-sweet chocolate chunks from Trader Joe’s that are made for melting and they worked well.
*If you use chocolate that’s not tempered, you will know once you try to harden it at room temperature. Your cashews may refuse to set and stay wet or set kind of soft and fudgy. You can still harden it by putting it in the refrigerator. Then continue with the recipe but store the nuts in the fridge.
Keywords: sweets, snacks, nuts, matcha, chocolate