Stretching a bar of chocolate further.

My name is Toni Graham and I am a chocoholic. 😊. Up until recently, a day would not go by without me having chocolate in some form or other. However, chocolate and cocoa have really gone up in price and so I have had to cut back on buying chocolate with my spending allowance. I can’t believe that some chocolate is nearly £100 a kg. My goal is also to lose  weight. I have therefore been stretching a bar of chocolate so that I can still have my hit, but make it last longer. Here are some ways that I do it.

1. Invent my own clusters. Anything that I have in the baking cupboard I will mix in with the melted chocolate and put in silicone cases,  or in clusters on parchment paper (or a silicone mat). We all remember chocolate crispy buns from our childhood, but my favourite is salted peanuts and raisins stirred in. This week I put cranberries, a few mini marshmallows and some crumbled biscuits and they were like  mini rocky roads. I get at least 8 clusters from 100g.

2. Make no bake trays. I make a few different traybakes with melted chocolate. They are similar to the clusters but placed in an 8″ by 8″ inch tin. I make them with bits of left over sweets like crunchie bars or maltesers, or with chopped nut, dried fruit, and a few broken biscuits. They are cut into squares, afterwards.

3. Use the chocolate as a topping for other treats or cakes. These can be  sponge, or tray bake like flapjacks, even no bake things like tiffin

Sometimes I will add a teaspoon of cococut oil into it when melting the chocolate. This stops it cracking when you cut the no bake ito squares. Other thing that I like covering are destoned dates with a whole almond stuffed inside. I kid myself that they are a healthy treat.

4. Posh chocolate discs. To make these are just melted circles of chocolate onto a silicone mat using a tablespoon, and sprinkled some chopped nuts and crystalised ginger on top.

5. Chocolate marshmallows. To make these I put some melted chocolate in the bottom of mini paper cases, and place a large marsh mallow in the middle. I think when I had them in Scotland, they stick a smartie on top. I like them plain.

6. Make chocolate lollies. Last Christmas I made animal themed lollies with a few buttons and smarties. My grandson loved them. .Another chocolate animal lolly.

7. Use as a filling in doughnuts, breads, or pastries.

8. Make a mousse. This can be easily made by whipping the melted chocolate into cream or yoghurt to make 4 servings.

9. Use to make decorations. Sometimes I will pipe a heart or an initial with melted chocolate on to a silicone mat. When it has set, I will peel it off and stick it on top of a cup cake. Other times I will melt it into tiny moulds to make decorations to place on top of biscuits or cup cakes

10. Making 2 bars of chocolate out of a 100g bar by adding fruit and nuts or other ingredients.

I have a chocolate bar mould.

11. Dipping biscuits half in chocolate when baked is a favourite. I did this recently with some ginger bread hearts. Shortbread is a nice biscuit to do this with also. Other treats can also be dipped.

12. Drizzling a little bit of melted chocolate across a bake so that there is just a hint of the taste is another way of stretching that chocolate. Psycologically it feels like you are eating chocolate but there is only a minute bit. I do this with flapjack when I only have half a bar of chocolate. It is also nice on pancakes.

13. Cut it in chunks and adding a bit to a sponge mixture instead of chips.

14. Grated as a garnish. When ever my mum made a trifle, she would grate a sprinkle of chocolate on top of it. Cheesecakes look more professional and finished off doing this, as does mousse.

15. Chocolate bark. This is just melted chocolate which I spread out over a silicone mat or parchment paper and place sweets, pretzels, nuts, fruit or sprinkles on top. These are then broken into shards. At Christmas I use red green and white sprinkles, and add broken candy canes.

16. Chocolate sauce. Melt the bar into 50ml of  warm cream or milk. This is lovely served over icecream or sponge

As Easter or Christmas, I usually make chocolate goodies as presents for family. These are presented in nice boxes, cellophane bags with ribbon, or decorated recycled jars. Easter is soon upon us, and chocolate eggs have become expensive. A few 100g bars of chocolate will ensure everyone gets a treat, without hurting my pocket.  It is also a bit healthier for them. If you just gave them 4 or 5 squares of chocolate each, they would think that you were a cheap skate. Make it into a nice couple of animal lollies, or some rockie road, present nicely, and they will think that you are a star.

I keep seeing recipes to make chocolate. I need to give it a go. What do you make with a bar of chocolate, and have you ever made chocolate from scratch yourself?