Unleash Your Inner Chocolatier With These Hazelnut and Ginger Clusters

Adobe Stock | Photo by Ruslan Mitin

Whether they’re for a birthday or a custom Valentine’s Day chocolate box, these hand-made candies are easy to make and tasty to eat.

This recipe for homemade chocolates is so easy that once you’ve done it, you’ll think up your own filling combinations. Packed in cellophane bags tied with a red ribbon, they make nice small gifts and are at-home in a Valentine’s Day candy box.

Chocolate, Hazelnut, and Ginger Clusters

Yields 22-24 clusters

Ingredients:

1 cup whole hazelnuts
8 oz semisweet chocolate chips
½ cup finely chopped candied ginger
24 hazelnut halves for topping

Method:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Spread hazelnuts in a single layer in a shallow pan and toast for about 10-15 minutes, stirring once.

Place nuts in the middle of a kitchen towel and rub off the paper-thin skins (sometimes hazelnuts can be found without this skin, in which case they only need to be toasted) and cool.

Melt chocolate in a shallow bowl in the microwave. Start with one minute, remove, stir, and repeat for 20 seconds, then 10 seconds at a time until completely melted. Carefully remove bowl from the microwave.

Stir in the cooled hazelnuts and chopped ginger. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto baking sheets covered with foil. Immediately top each cluster with a hazelnut half.

Refrigerate until cool and hardened. Store refrigerated in airtight containers.

Originally published in Delicious December: How the Dutch Brought Us Santa, Presents, and Treats: A Holiday Cookbook.